Ratchet & Clank: Fractures In Time
by TheGrudge154
Summary: "The elders once said time is a living, breathing thing. Powerful, beautiful, and often times cruel." A retelling and expansion of the most pivotal scenes from A Crack In Time, celebrating the 10th anniversary of one of the series' finest entries. Rated T for later violence. Reviews appreciated.
1. Meeting

**Ratchet & Clank: Fractures In Time**

**1\. Meeting**

It had taken a long trek and a couple of detours on the side to reach this point, but Ratchet had finally made it through the Vullards' Hollow and into the cavernous valley of Volgram Pass. The intensity of Torren IV's sun glaring on him in the distance was enough to cause a wiping of his brow, the slow descent of the star on the horizon doing little to ease the heat. In a way, it reminded him of Fastoon during the day, the arid air and rocky terrain almost a perfect fit if not for the mountains of scrap lying around.

Ratchet cast his gaze upward, emerald eyes gleaming in the light as he took in his surroundings. The remains of one of the larger robots, the Guardians, towered above with its inactive circuity and massive frame acting as a silent sentry over the land. A myriad of power cables and other wiring twisted around the mech's chassis like synthetic vines, the instantly recognisable hum of power generators catching the attention of the Lombax's ears. If there was power, that usually meant someone was using that power. And if that was someone here, Ratchet could only assume that it was Alister Azimuth.

Azimuth. A name that had started to appear more and more frequently the further Ratchet had travelled in his quest to find Clank. It had first shown up back on Fastoon, confronting Tachyon and his stolen Dimensionator within a court named after them. Then there was mention of the name again when searching for clues on the Zoni in the archives that detailed the history of Polaris. And, most recently, Vorselon had spoken of him in a less than flattering manner, apparently confusing Ratchet for this stranger.

Whoever this Azimuth was, he was someone that actively opposed people like Vorselon and Nefarious. He was also seen as important enough to the Lombaxes to be honoured in their past and on their home planet. If someone like that had managed to tangle themselves up in battling Nefarious, then they had the potential to be a powerful ally. Enemy of an enemy is a friend and all that. The only problem right now was trying to find this rogue.

Ratchet squinted, peering up a little harder at the Guardian's head when something caught his attention. It was a subtle glint in the evening sun, something metallic flashing in his eye. As the initial bright spot faded, the young Lombax could see the outline of what seemed to be a person stood on a platform high above. Was this was the one who was using up all this power? It was possible they were using the Guardian's hollow body as a place to live in the Pass, just like Qwark had said in his transmission.

It stood to reason that this could be Azimuth himself, or at least someone who would know where Azimuth could be hiding. Ratchet cleared his throat, raising up a hand in a friendly wave to try and get their attention.  
"Excuse me? Uh, hi!" he called cheerfully. "I don't mean to barge in on you like this, but, uh... do you know where I can find Alister Azimuth? I was told that he lives in this Pass and..."

Ratchet's wave faltered when he suddenly felt an odd sensation spike in his senses. The feeling of being watched, almost as fiercely as the sun's glare, locking onto him like the laser sights of a rifle. It took another blink and a focus of his eyes to realise that the stranger was the one eyeing him down, like a predator spying on their prey from afar before they struck. It was more than a little unnerving, catching him off guard to the point that he almost didn't notice the bomb flying towards his head.

The stranger had thrown it while Ratchet was distracted, sailing through the air and reconfiguring itself to prime an explosion like his own Constructo variants. The Lombax's eyes went wide as it suddenly became apparent that he had been classed as a trespasser.  
"Uh oh..."  
Ratchet swung his wrench instinctively in the nick of the time, the blunt edge of his tool striking away the explosive and causing it to discharge against the nearby canyon wall with a resonating thud. But another sound caused his ears to perk, a small tinkering noise of metal bouncing against the rock.

_'Secondary charges too?' _he mentally groaned to himself, forcing his legs to leap away from the the inevitable flames and over the edge of the Pass' cliff edge. As his instincts proved right and a fireball barely missed singing his tail, Ratchet tucked his body in and aimed for one of the twisted metal beams beneath him.

* * *

With a stretch out of his arm, Ratchet swung himself under and around to the top of the rusted steel, the magnets of his grind boots kicking in as his feet made contact to send him sliding down it in a shower of sparks. As he adjusted himself to get his balance back after the bomb's shock wave, he saw something flying ahead of him on the rail as well. It was the stranger, apparently having thought of using the same tactic of escape.

"You've lost the element of surprise! Killing me won't be so easy!"  
The rough male voice managed to break through the scraping noise of Ratchet's boots against the rail, the young Lombax shifting his body left and right to make sure he could keep up in the tight corners.  
"I just wanna talk to you!" he called back, trying to reason with someone who was quite clearly paranoid about any outsider threats.  
"Lies!" the stranger called back. "You're not interested in talking, no hired killer ever is! You're here to _assassinate_ me!"  
"What?!" Ratchet shouted back in bewilderment. "No!"

The stranger was not interested in excuses, arching an arm in an smooth movement behind him as another explosive charge hurtled towards Ratchet. The young Lombax barely managed to avoid it, leaping over the resulting fire and catching his balance back on the rail with a clunk of metal.

"Who sent you? Vorselon? Nefarious?!" came the accusations. "Hah! Figures they'd send a spy rather than confront me themselves..."  
Frustration bubbled up inside Ratchet as he could only keep trying to talk this man down. What on earth had made him so anxious about being attacked?  
"I'm _not_ a spy! I'm just trying to find someone who-"

Ratchet's voice suddenly failed him. A powerful feeling shuddered through his chest, almost making him forget to breathe for the briefest of moments. Shock. It hadn't been easy to see anything about his fleeing target when they were on the Guardian. It was only now, up close and in pursuit of this stranger, that he realised this man was not so strange after all.

Their body was taller than his, a set of broad shoulders, a muscular build and a skill to his movements that was clearly trained in how effortlessly their own grinding appeared to be. But the similarities were all too apparent. And all too impossible. Two large ears, striped down their length and tapered off into a sharp tip. A tail that twitched to aid in balance, ending with a larger tuft of fur. A staff-like weapon strapped to their back, two heads resembling Ratchet's own wrench.

Even if that fur was a different colour, or they didn't share many physical similarities in overall shape, the pieces added up. It was why Vorselon had confused the two of them, why the Lombaxes had named a revered court after them. There was no denying who this person was. _What_ they were.

_This_ was Alister Azimuth. And he was a Lombax.

Ratchet's urge to speak exploded out of him, calling out even louder than before with a desperation in his voice that surprised even him.  
"W-Wait! _Please_, just let me talk to you!"  
"Stay away! You'll only end up being sorry you tried!"  
"_Look_ at me! I'm a _Lombax_!"  
"The Lombaxes are _gone_!" came the reply, almost shutting Ratchet up mid-sentence. "And I know a holo-guise when I see one!"  
"Holo-guise? Oh, for the love of..." Ratchet muttered. "Will you just stop trying to kill me for _two seconds_ so we can talk?!"

Azimuth was clearly having none of it, leaping from one of the twisted beams towards a platform near the Guardian they started from. With a flash of light from boots that Ratchet didn't recognise, the other Lombax soared out of sight as he circled around to catch up from behind. Ratchet saw a way to spring up ahead, figuring that if this crazy guy could pull off that stunt, he could too. He used his momentum to jump forward, rebounding off the edge of the platform to somersault through the air and onto the ledge above.

With a harder landing than he expected, Ratchet pushed himself up on slightly stinging legs with an alert twitch of his ears. Despite having only been moments behind him, Azimuth seemed to have disappeared without a trace. He whirled his head around, trying to find some sort of clue or sign, but he saw nothing. No scuff marks, no noise, nothing. Whoever this crazy Lombax was, he was good. Very good.

Ratchet's head swirled with questions, questions that he never would have thought in a millions years he'd be asking himself. Even just the fact that he was having to think about it was more than a little mind blowing. After all, a _Lombax_...? How? Why? What was he doing fighting with Nefarious? Why was he on this backwater planet? Why had he stayed hidden for so long?

Ratchet exhaled harshly, his gaze falling to the ground. The initial rush of adrenaline that had pulsed through his body when he had realised who Azimuth was had started to dissipate. With the fact that he had lost sight of Azimuth and the rogue was keen to keep it that way, he felt a little dejected. The first good news he'd had in a long time regarding... well, _anything_, and it had already slipped through his fingers.  
_'Great,' _he thought to himself. _'First time I ever see another of my own species and he wants nothing to do with me.'_  
And it was that moment of dejection that left Ratchet an easy target.

Before he could dwell any further on the thoughts invading his mind, something from behind him clutched Ratchet's collar and pulled him backwards with a surprising amount of strength. He braced himself as a hard metal wall came up to meet his back, letting out a noise of pain as he felt like he'd been pancaked onto it. As he began to slide down to the ground, another impact from the front caught him off guard as well. Two metal prongs closed in around his neck, pinning him to the wall with their tight grip. He reached up to them with clawing hands for support, oddly feeling a surge of electricity through each prong start to make his fur stand on end.

After he could finally breathe again after having the wind knocked out of him, Ratchet opened his eyes. The prongs belonged to the wrench-like weapon he had seen earlier and its owner was now mere inches away from his face. Azimuth was glaring at him like a madman, yellowed eyes and irises of amber piercing into him like daggers. Up close, he could note more of the Lombax's features.

A more defined jaw than his own, a pale white fur colour with red stripes covering his exposed body and whiskers of thinner hair on the sides of his face that almost resembled the beginnings of a beard. From that alone, Azimuth definitely seemed much older than Ratchet, though one would never guess if they were basing it on his raw strength. The strange Lombax tightened his grip on the handle of his weapon, the corner of his mouth almost curling upward in a victorious smile.  
"Now I've got you!" he declared, his voice quieter than before, but just as threatening with how gruff he sounded. "This'll teach that mad doctor and his subordinate to-"

To Ratchet's relief, it was now Azimuth's turn to go quiet. As he strained in a breath from the hard grip around his neck, he saw the other Lombax's stern glare dissipate into one of equal shock as his own when they first met eyes. Now that he had a good look at his attacker, Azimuth could now see that the 'assassin' wasn't wearing a holo-guise.

The way the light reflected off the golden fur, the subtle movements of his ears and face as he struggled against the weapon holding him. No technology could replicate that properly, far too organic. He had obviously made a big mistake in his judgement. And if his hunch was right, it was even bigger than he initially realised. But it was impossible. Simply impossible. There's no way that _he_ could have survived after the Departure, not after Tachyon's purge of the galaxy for every one of their kind.

"It can't be..." came the near whispered reply, Azimuth's hold on his wrench loosening enough to gently lower Ratchet back to the ground as he pulled the head away from the golden Lombax's neck. Ratchet rubbed at the spot where said neck connected to his shoulder, clearing his throat with a look of restrained annoyance creasing his brow.

It only took a second of seeing Azimuth's face again that such annoyance faded into nothing. Ratchet's previous excitement was building again, the chance of actually meeting someone he never imagined he would making him seem hopeful.  
"I _am_ a Lombax," he insisted, his heightened mood hard to disguise in his tone.

Azimuth scanned over Ratchet's face, taking in every detail around his muzzle, his eyes, even the way his brow had wrinkled beneath the fur when he had been angry. It was... identical. Exactly the same as he remembered from decades ago when he had last seen _him_. Something of the Lombaxes had survived Tachyon's purge.  
"You're... you're Kaden's son...?" Azimuth asked, his own voice sounding just as hopeful that his suspicions were proven right. Ratchet blinked. Son? Was Azimuth talking about... his father?  
"Kaden?" the younger repeated, almost as if asking to clarify. Azimuth didn't respond for a moment, as though his thoughts had consumed him before the name snapped him out of his daze.

"Ah... forgive me," he insisted, taking a step back and pressing himself down onto one of his knees with one of his hands clasped into a fist against his chest. It reminded Ratchet of a military salute, his instincts proving to be correct when the older Lombax spoke again. "General Alister Azimuth. Four-Bolt Magistrate of the Lombax Praetorian Guard, Elder Councilman for the Centre for Advanced Lombax Research, and you..."  
Azimuth paused. His mouth parted for a moment as if he was about to speak before he broke out into a broad smile.

"My dear boy... you look just like your father."

* * *

Ratchet's eyes were filled with wonder as he walked into the room. His intel had been right regarding the Guardian as a living quarters, basic living amenities of seats and cooking appliances in a space that could've been no bigger than his old garage back on Veldin. The walls had a few shelves, pieces of scrap metal and other maintenance equipment on them that Azimuth probably salvaged from the Vullards to continue the upkeep of his armour and other gadgets. It seemed simple, but considering the circumstances of the Lombax race in Polaris, simple was fine if it meant you stayed hidden.

On the opposite wall, something far more methodical had taken up the entire surface. Numerous sketches, notes stacked on top of notes, blueprints for devices that Ratchet had never seen before. Yet they all bore a strange similarity to them, almost as if they were rejected designs or ideas for the same machine over and over again. Sure, Azimuth had said he was a Councilman for the Centre, but he was also a military man from his rank as a General. What purpose would such things have for him? And especially in this obsessive level of detail?

"Apologies for the mess. Volgram Pass isn't known for being easy to reach for outsiders so I've been caught unprepared," Azimuth murmured, taking a few steps past Ratchet with a roll of one of his shoulders. Ratchet himself turned in a circle as he took in all the details of Azimuth's home, his head swimming with possibilities of what to ask and what to do next. Of all the things he had expected to find out here, this was definitely not one of them.

"You alright?" the General asked, breaking through Ratchet's daydream as he shook himself back to reality.  
"Huh? O-Oh, yeah! I'm... I'm good..." he mumbled. "I mean, I just... I have so many questions."  
Azimuth chuckled for a moment, reaching into one of the back pockets on his Praetorian Guard armour to fish something out, taking a few steps towards the youth with an outstretched hand.  
"Then let's start with this," he suggested, opening his clasped palm to reveal what he had taken. "To show I'm genuine too."

It was a round object, an intricate engraving of gears and markings that looked like the Lombax alphabet. Ratchet's fingers brushed over the surface. Even despite the relative smoothness and shininess of the metal, the object appeared quite old from the scuffed edges and marks. He took it from Azimuth, noticing a catch on the side that he flicked open with his thumb.

The object split open, joined at a hinge on the back. A moving set of cogs and turning ticking parts on the inner right side made it obvious that it was some sort of pocket watch. But it was the other side of the clock, a picture surrounded by the circular metal in a display, that caught Ratchet's attention in a way that made a lump in his throat build when he realised what it showed.

Two Lombaxes, posing next to each other and smiling towards the camera in a confident pose, holding their wrenches as though they were prized weapons or trophies. The Lombax on the right was Azimuth, albeit a much younger version of him. But the other... golden fur, darker stripes along the ears and arms in the same way as Ratchet's own. And with a warm expression that seemed like something out of an old memory that he could no longer recall.

That alone proved it, that feeling of unfamiliar familiarity. This Lombax was Kaden. His father, friends with the Four-Bolt Magistrate that Ratchet now stood in the home of. He traced a finger against Kaden's face, as if in some vain subconscious hope that he'd get something tangible back.  
_'Dad.'_  
This was the first time he'd ever seen what his father looked like. He was too young to remember when he was still alive. He swallowed to contain his emotions, his brow creasing inward on itself.

"That picture was taken shortly after Kaden became one of the members of the Praetorian Guard. Just a keepsake for the day," Azimuth explained. "He'd always wanted to try and make a difference ever since we were young."  
"How did you know him?" asked Ratchet.  
"Kaden and I were good friends ever since we were children. And he was as smart as they come. Because of his work in both the Guard and the Centre, it was only natural he'd be named Keeper of the Dimensionator. He was a good man."  
"Yeah..." came the younger Lombax's response as he closed the watch. Of course he couldn't agree with any certainty. He never knew Kaden properly to really know.  
"Now, I have a question of my own," said Azimuth, folding his arms. "What's so important that you'd go to the effort of tracking me down?"  
"Well, that's... I mean, it's... it's a real long story," Ratchet admitted with a shrug.  
"I have time," the General insisted, raising a brow with a subtle smile.

So, even despite them being relative strangers with one another, Ratchet told Azimuth everything. About his survival of the Lombax extinction, the battles with Emperor Tachyon, about Clank and the Zoni. How he had searched for his best friend for two years and that Nefarious was somehow involved in all of it. He also told Azimuth about how his name had come up and that he'd sought him out to potentially be an ally in his fight against the doctor.

As Ratchet spoke, Azimuth just listened intently, nodding every once in a while as he came to learn more about his younger acquaintance's past. But it was only when the golden Lombax started speaking about the Zoni did his interest really pick up. After Ratchet finished his story, he turned towards one of the windows made from one of the Guardian's eyes and gone quiet. Ratchet awkwardly stood there, not sure if he'd been insensitive in some way or if this was just his elder's way of processing new information.

"Did I... say something funny?" he eventually piped up, the silence become a little uneasy for his tastes. Azimuth turned his head slightly over his shoulder.  
"You said your friend was taken by the Zoni? And he's somewhere in Breegus?"  
Ratchet nodded, watching the General turn on the spot. His eyes darted back and forth, as though his brain was in overdrive trying to fit the pieces together. He suddenly snapped his fingers.  
"It was under my nose the whole time..."  
"Um... what was?" asked Ratchet.  
Azimuth hurried towards the opposite wall, the one with all of the blueprints and frantic scribblings as he scanned over the rapidly. Of course, the runes that spoke about it being 'at the centre'. It made sense!  
"I think I know where your friend is."

Ratchet sharply inhaled. Another thing he hadn't expected to hear today in his wildest hopes. He honestly didn't have an idea on where to look in Breegus for Clank, Darkwater's Obsidian Eye not being nearly as accurate as he had hoped it would be. But Azimuth knew this place better than he did and it showed with just how quickly he had managed to think about and deduce a location.

"Where? Where is he, where'd they take him?!" he blurted out, causing Azimuth to turn and gently press a hand against Ratchet's chest to keep him calm. The younger Lombax nodded sheepishly, stepping backward. He knew he was being a little more emotional than normal, but it was hard not to be given circumstances. Azimuth simply smirked, appearing to forgive the youth for his outburst.

"You said you met the Fongoids, correct?" he asked, getting a nod from Ratchet back. "Well, according to their lore, the Zoni are the guardians of time itself. If your friend is connected to them, he must play some part in its operation..."  
"The operation of what?"  
Azimuth's expression turned serious as he gave his answer.  
"The Great Clock."

Ratchet blinked, not sure what the General meant with such an official name. It certainly didn't sound like a planet.  
"Clock...?" he repeated, tilting his head a little confused.  
"It's a machine or a... construct of some sort, referenced in ancient runes found in numerous Zoni sites across this part of the galaxy," Azimuth explained. "In fact, back home during our own research into it, Kaden was the first one to theorize that it even existed."  
"And this 'clock'... you think Clank's in there?"  
Azimuth rolled his shoulders a little as he tried to be a little clearer.  
"Well, 'clock' is a rather crude translation of the runes found on Quantos. Specifically, they say "Keeper Of Time". But, yes, I suspect he is."  
"And that's what all this is? The Clock?" Ratchet pointed, gesturing to all the documents on the wall.  
"Yes. It's been... an interest of mine for some years now," Azimuth said simply. From his tone of voice, it seemed he didn't wish elaborate on it further.

Not wanting to pry, Ratchet wouldn't ask about it either. Though there was one question that kept repeating in his head, even as he tried to focus on the new information regarding this weird Clock holding Clank. Despite the wonder and relief at having found another Lombax, the impossibility of it still nagged away at the back of his thoughts.  
"General?"  
"Yes?"  
"I thought my father was the only one to stay behind when the Lombaxes left. Why didn't you go with them?"

Azimuth's posture slumped a little, his eyes trailing off towards the floor. Ratchet internally cringed. If he hadn't said something wrong before, it felt like he definitely had now. The General forced a weak smile onto his face with a gentle shrug, almost as if he'd picked up on his younger friend's hesitation.  
"Sometimes the universe has a cruel sense of humour."

The statement did little to shed light on the reason, but it made it crystal clear to Ratchet that it was a subject that was definitely off limits. He watched Azimuth move past him towards a chest on the other wall, seeing the older of the pair begin to rummage through it without a word. Ratchet frowned. Even if he logically knew better than to pry, the questions didn't leave his head.

What had happened to this guy?


	2. Truth

**Ratchet & Clank: Fractures In Time**

**2\. Truth**

So much happened so quickly after that first meeting. A gift of Kaden's old hoverboots, a raid on a facility in Axiom City to find a new Obsidian Eye, the explanation of the Clock being a device that could _control the flow of time itself_, the first of many battles with the Valkyries under Nefarious' employment, an admission from Azimuth that he wanted to be family... Ratchet barely had time to really let any of it all sink in, like time itself was in a whirlwind around him.

Right now, he was having to hurry and catch up to Azimuth in the caves of Krell Canyon, running through a mixture of rusted machinery, infestations of Tetramites and deadly mixtures of the two, all threatening and dangerous in equal measure. So, standard fare for him at this point. And as he had forced his tired legs to keep up with Azimuth's military-reinforced stamina, Ratchet had begun to notice things about his elder the more they had travelled together.

Azimuth was always handing out advice, trying his best to be some sort of figure after admitting he was sorry he never tried to seek the younger Lombax out before now. Ratchet didn't blame him for that, especially since he had no idea Azimuth was alive either. In combat, the General was extremely aggressive, but methodical and skilled when attacking his targets. He was single-minded and focused on his goals, doing whatever it took to accomplish them no matter how risky or apparently foolish it may have seemed.

However, Azimuth would often be lost in waves of nostalgia and memory. Constantly comparing Ratchet to his memories of Kaden and the things they did together. Even just through the Canyon alone, Azimuth had told stories about how he and Kaden had come here as teenagers and gotten into all sorts of trouble with their hoverboots. Or the time that Kaden had entered the Battleplex and won, or even missions together in their youthful days of the Praetorian Guard.

It was a contradiction, to be so stubbornly pushing ahead without looking back and yet being stuck in the past in equal measure. Even despite Ratchet's attempts to ask about why Azimuth was still here, the older of the pair would be too busy urging them onward or reminiscing out loud, like it was the first chance he had gotten to do so in decades.  
"General, can we talk about what happened? With my father? The Lombaxes?"  
"Now is not the time for distractions! Not when we're this close!"

It all kept leading back up to the question Ratchet had back in the General's home, reinforced by Nefarious' accusation of Azimuth being the "shame" of the Lombaxes in Axiom City. What had happened? The elder may have tried to imply he was simply a victim of circumstance, but Ratchet was sure there was more to it than that. He wouldn't keep avoiding the subject otherwise and it all had something to do with the reason why he was still in this dimension instead of with the rest of their kind.

* * *

At that moment, narrowly having avoided another horde of those blasted 'mites and their ravenous appetite for his flesh, Ratchet had only just inhaled to try and inquire again when Azimuth had gone sailing ahead into the darkness of a cavern below without a second thought.  
"General, wait!" he called, outstretching his hand as even the bright blue hue of Azimuth's hoverboots faded into the black. The Lombax cursed under his breath, kicking his own boots into gear in order to take Azimuth's advice of a 'leap of faith' to follow him.

As he soared off of the ledge to match the white Lombax's trajectory, Ratchet descended with the boot jets acting as brakes to slow him down. His feet made contact with the uneven rocks, nearly stumbling over himself just a flash of green light caused him to wince. Azimuth had activated one of his flares, tossing it to the ground and casting an unusual emerald glow over them and the surroundings. His hands were pressed against the surface, like he was listening for a hollow or a weakness to break through. He acted as though he hadn't even noticed Ratchet had arrived.

"General, will you just... _stop_ for a second?" Ratchet panted, his voice strained from his heavy breathing at having to keep up for so long.  
"Is it important?" the elder asked. "We can't stop now when we're so close to the Eye."  
"I just want to know what happened."  
"Like I said, It'll have to wait, Ratchet," Azimuth insisted, not even turning around as he kept checking the rock.  
"But I want to-"  
"Not now," came the stern reply.

The response was only adding to Ratchet's patience wearing thin. Even if Azimuth was a Lombax, he was starting to grow weary of simply trying to keep up. _He_ had tried to ask for _Azimuth's_ help, not the other way around. He dared a more direct question.  
"No, I want to know why you're still in Polaris. And it's not just Nefarious, you've been wanting to find this Clock thing for a reason too. Why?"  
"Ugh... questions, questions, you ask all these questions!" Azimuth suddenly snapped back as he turned around to briefly meet Ratchet's surprised eyes. "Ask yourself _this_! How relevant is the past when it can be changed?"

Ratchet scowled harder, finding such an attitude to not only be rude, but also hypocritical. Azimuth's fondness for past events didn't match what he'd said. And changing the past? What was he talking about?  
"I... I don't know! I don't know what you mean!" he admitted with an exasperated gesture.  
"Hmph. Your father would have said 'not very'."  
"That's _him_," Ratchet spat back, feeling one of his hands curl into a fist. He was also starting to get tired of consistently being compared to Kaden. He _wasn't_ Kaden. He didn't even know who Kaden had been. "And you still haven't given me a straight answer! Now, why aren't you with the Lombaxes?!"  
"Because I _failed_ them!"

Azimuth's shout echoed off the stone walls surrounding them as he threw his fist to the side, smacking into the rock with a resonating thud as his voice bounced off the walls. The chamber descended into near silence, only the soft hiss of the burning flare audible at the pair's feet. Azimuth's furious expression stayed glued to Ratchet, making the younger of the pair nearly recoil from how fiercely it burned. But it softened and crumpled in on itself as the General realised that he'd lost his fragile temper. He knew it was a fault of his, but it was made even more apparent seeing how Ratchet had physically flinched at the punch to the rock.

"I failed them..." Azimuth repeated, leaning against the wall. As much as he hated to remember, to recall the disastrous events that led up to the Departure, Ratchet had a right to know. It was unfair to take out his frustration on a boy, no older than when his father had first joined the Guard. The General sank down the wall into a sitting position, his head down towards the burning glow of the flare. "I made a mistake."

Ratchet felt regret stab in his chest as he took a few steps forward to the other side of the light. He'd pushed too hard. He let out a sigh as he sat down too, crossing his legs and leaning forward towards his elder with a face that seemed to suggest a silent apology. Azimuth exhaled, raising his gaze to meet Ratchet's inquisitive own. A brief trace of a smile crossed his features before it faded as quickly as the sparks from their makeshift little fire. He might as well be honest at this point.

"After the Great War, Polaris was a dangerous place. Even with the Cragmites gone, I knew that steps needed to be taken to protect the galaxy," he began. "Despite how Polaris remembers us, the galaxy had not been saved with our victory. So many planets and species were eager for a chance to fight, it was all they'd known for years. But without their greatest threat around any more, it was only inevitable they would turn their anger on each other. Chaos seemed inevitable. So I searched for a way to grant those people the security and safety they needed, new machines and devices to root out such dissonance before it escalated."

"So... what happened?" Ratchet asked.  
"One day, we were approached by an inventor. He boasted incredible ideas, technology light years beyond what we were using."  
"Who?"  
"Someone... your father warned me not to trust," Azimuth carried on, the look in his eyes making it obvious that this was the mistake he mentioned. "Our kind had grown suspicious of him, given how he asked for no reward in return. But his ideas convinced me that this was the right thing to do, for the galaxy. So I granted him full access to our technology. All of our secrets."

Azimuth paused, taking in a breath that sounded shaky and uneven. It was not an easy thing to bring up again after so long. He had always thought it was best to keep this sort of thing hidden away forever, where no-one could see his shame as Nefarious had said in Axiom. But whether it was clenched tightly in his heart or out in the open, it would still hurt all the same.  
"Only... when he was finished, he..."

The sentence failing clued Ratchet in on who he was talking about, his own expression turning a little sad at hearing it. The inventor was Tachyon. Using technology that Ratchet had, up until this point, thought was stolen from the Lombaxes. But instead, it had been _given_ to him willingly by the man sitting across the chamber. Azimuth cleared his throat, swallowing to keep it from being dry as he carried on.  
"Everyone took refuge in the Court. They could only see one way out, to escape the attack and keep everyone safe from what I had done. But your father refused. He would never have left your mother."

Ratchet's ears drooped a little at mention of his mother, almost having forgotten that he had one with Azimuth talking about his father so much. He hadn't even thought what had happened to her during the attack until now, a spike of guilt joining the feelings turning over inside him.  
"She... she didn't escape with the others?"  
"No," Azimuth confirmed with a soft shake of the head. "When Kaden made it back to get her, she was already gone. And... well, you know he followed her soon after."

Ratchet's head lowered, not wanting to meet Azimuth's own gaze all of a sudden. He felt that lump in his throat form again, swallowing hard to keep it in check as the General's story reminded him too much of how Tachyon had taunted him in that same Court two years ago. About how much pleasure he'd gotten from killing Kaden, just after he had sent Ratchet away to another galaxy. It was made even worse upon his realisation that the Cragmite may have had the same sick satisfaction of killing his mother as well.

He should have felt angry at Azimuth for what he'd done, the beginnings of it starting to rise up within him as his fists clenched against his legs. But the elder's next words proved it was a pointless thing to feel. Azimuth knew he was guilty.  
"I don't know how long he survived before Tachyon caught up with him. But I know _I_ was responsible for his death," the elder concluded, pressing his fingers against the bridge of his nose as though his head were hurting just thinking about it. "For my crimes, I was forbidden from joining the Lombaxes. And so they left. And I live in exile."

Azimuth took a moment longer before he pushed himself up onto his legs again, Ratchet following suit with a concerned look. He was lucky to have at least some emotional distance from it, being a mere infant when it happened. But these events, these choices... it appeared as though they'd eaten away at the General for years. It explained much about him, but still only left one thing unanswered. His need for this strange Clock that Clank was trapped inside.

"But... then I remembered the runes. The thing that they spoke about," Azimuth murmured, gesturing with his hands as though said runes were right in front of him. "And I realised that I could do something. I could make up for everything and start over with a clean slate!"  
"The Clock...?"  
"I can make it right, Ratchet. _All_ of it. I... _we_ can fix it!"

The General stepped forward and placed down a hand on his younger partner's shoulder. The gesture took Ratchet by surprise, the pieces starting to fall into place in his mind.  
"With the Clock under our control, it'll be like none of it ever happened!" the elder reasoned, his face lighting up at the implications. "Just... stay with me and I promise I'll get your family back."

And with that, Azimuth turned on the spot with a secured grip on his wrench and thrust it into the wall behind him. A discharge of electricity began to build in the head of the weapon before it suddenly exploded, cracking a weak point in the structure and blowing the rock open thanks to his previous checks. Sunlight poured in and nearly blinded the younger Lombax, only managing to open his eyes as Azimuth disappeared from view once again.

Was what he said about the Clock true? Could it really alter the past and undo everything that had happened? It was a tempting idea, a swell of excitement building within Ratchet as he too imagined the possibility. He could meet his father, his mother, everyone that he may have been friends with in another life.

But doubt began to poison that enthusiasm almost as soon as it manifested. Maybe it was a sense of cynicism that had built up after two years of searching for Clank with little to show for it, maybe because it sounded too good to be true. More than anything, he kept remembering that Clank was somehow involved with this Clock.

A machine that could control time seemed like the perfect explanation for all of the strange temporal phenomena that had plagued nearly every planet in Breegus he'd visited. If the two were connected, if the Clock could cause things like that to happen, then he needed to find Clank fast. Only his best friend would be able to set this whole thing straight.

* * *

Ratchet was tired. Exhausted to use a better word. His limbs were aching after stopping an Agorian invasion almost single-handedly, so much so that he couldn't even think about feeling energetic. But still, they had to press on. They had been granted access to the ancient chambers where the Zoni temple lay waiting for them, holding the Eye they needed to reach only mere minutes away. He exhaled harshly and forced through the discomfort, though had to consciously make sure he wasn't dragging his wrench against the floor at this point.

As he continued through the dark caves and dank caverns, Ratchet could still hear rustling and growling around him. The Tetramites were still here. He couldn't see them or tell where any of their nests were, but it felt creepy, almost as if they were watching him from the darkness. A pool of water splashing around his feet as he hurried his pace soon dispersed that feeling away. At least they wouldn't follow him now.

"Ah ha!"  
Ratchet almost jumped out of his fur when a loud exclamation rang through the caverns, echoing and ringing in his ears. Realising it was Azimuth's voice, a mild sense of alarm hit him as with the possibility that the bloodthirsty little creatures had gotten to him. Despite his legs screaming at him to take a rest, Ratchet broke into a gentle run and eventually ground to a halt behind the elder, who was standing with his focus above him somewhere.  
"General! Something wrong?"  
"Oh, far from it Ratchet!" Azimuth responded, excitedly pointing upwards. "Look! Up there!"

Following the direction of the General's finger, Ratchet saw that strange blue writing was engraved into the rock, written in a language he had never seen before. It almost seemed to glow in the darkness with a cerulean energy, the same energy the Zoni seemed to emit from their small metal bodies. Relieved it was nothing dangerous, Ratchet let out an even bigger sigh than before, resting his hands on his knees with a heaving pant.  
"We must be getting close to the Temple," Azimuth murmured. "If we just can get to it before sundown..."

A sudden clanking of metal against the stone floor interrupted Azimuth mid-sentence, causing him to whirl around on the spot. Ratchet had fallen onto his backside, his head leaned back as he supported himself on his arms and wrench. The white Lombax seemed concerned, taking a knee to look him over.  
"What's the problem? Are you alright?"  
"No, I'm... I'm good, just..." Ratchet panted, a sheepish smile faintly visible on his lips. "I don't wanna be a problem, but... could we take five...?"

Azimuth's expression instantly soured, a reaction that Ratchet hadn't expected to see just from a simple request.  
"A break? When we're this close to the Eye?" he asked, almost as though he didn't believe what he'd heard. "Ratchet, I know that business with the Agorians was tiring, but we're only hours away from the Clock at the very least! Remember what I told you. Reward-"  
"Over consequence, I know," the younger Lombax groaned. "But I'd rather not deal with the consequences of collapsing mid-way up the temple stairs after fighting off all that crap..."

Azimuth grumbled a little at the youth's flippant choice of words. How could Ratchet be wanting to rest now of all times? They were literally _steps _away from learning the location of the Clock, the location of his friend! Kaden wouldn't have been like this. Kaden would carry on regardless of any danger or discomfort, remaining persistent in their goal of finding the Eye. They were so close, it almost made the General angry that they had to stop. He could feel his fist clenching a little on itself in his free hand, teeth grinding behind his closed jaw. He'd waited _years_ for this chance and they were wasting time!

But... maybe that was unfair. He was thinking emotionally and Azimuth knew that he struggled to keep those emotions in check these days, proven just hours ago with his story. Ratchet had also never had the training Azimuth had from his days in the Guard. Sure, the boy had skill and a natural talent for combat thanks to his own brief training from years ago in Bogon, but he didn't have the decades of experience or wisdom that a Lombax General had. In this case, the younger of the pair had certainly earned the reward of a sit down after fighting off the Agorian forces.  
"Alright, Ratchet. We'll stay here for a while. It'd probably be best to explore the Temple on fresh legs anyway."

Relief flooded through Ratchet's body as he fell totally backwards to lay on the floor with a weak laugh. His wrench clattered to the ground beside him as he grunted, with Azimuth setting himself down with a much more gentle resting of his own weapon. He took out one of his flares to create another makeshift fire, setting it off and blazing a bright green glow over the rune-engrained walls. The General shifted in his position until he was sat down besides Ratchet proper. Quiet descended.

After a few moments, Ratchet forced himself into a sitting position, staring up at the roof above them and the Zoni writing, He found himself admiring how it shimmered in the flare's light. Even despite the trouble that species had given him over the last few years, he had to admit that something about their artefacts and history was interesting to look at. Even if the specifics of why it looked the way it did and _what_ it did would be usually Clank's department.

Azimuth took the time to etch the symbols into his mind, drawing on his decades of research to try and translate the markings himself. Some phrases stuck out to him, usual prophetic workings of the Eye and the 'ability to see across the stars'. A relic from an older dialect of the race from centuries ago, no doubt. But then, out of the corner of his eye, Azimuth saw something else gleaming in the aura of his flare. Something on Ratchet's arm.

"What's that?"  
"Huh?" the golden Lombax murmured, stretching out his arm to look for himself. Even despite the blank face he tried to maintain, Azimuth noticed the subtle twinges of muscle beneath his fur that were disguising his wince. The dark red colouring of blood leaking into the torn material of the suit was a much bigger clue though.

"That's a wound. What happened?" the General asked.  
"It's nothing."  
"It doesn't look like nothing."  
"It's just a scratch, from one of the Tetramites from before. Only a little one."  
"More like a bite than scratch to me," Azimuth grunted, leaning in a little closer to hold his charge's arm and look it over. "I told you those things can digest _anything_, they ate right through the armour and the nanotech systems!"  
"Oh..." Ratchet mumbled, his tone making him sound like a child being told off. It prompted a soft sigh from Azimuth.

"Why didn't you say something? You should've told me and we would've stopped sooner!"  
"Seriously, it's fine!" Ratchet protested. "A little nanotech'll sort it out in a second!"  
"Enough," came the stern answer, shutting the younger of the pair right up. "Nanotech tends to work best when the wounds in question aren't infected from exposure first. Let me see."

As much as he would have liked to protest again, it was obvious to Ratchet that Azimuth was being far too stubborn to listen. A little like himself now he thought on it, ironically. And, despite how small it was, Ratchet had to admit that the bite was quite painful now he was having to pay attention to it. With a sigh, he held out his arm properly as Azimuth held it straight, reaching into one of his armour pockets to produce a small piece of medical dressing. The General was clearly prepared well, beginning to wrap the bandage with the occasional exclamation of pain sounding out every time it tightened around Ratchet's limb.

"This'll at least keep it covered until we can repair your suit."  
"General, it's fine, really," the youth tried to insist.  
"You should _always_ tell me if you're hurt," Azimuth said as he worked, his voice a little softer than before. "I don't want to be worrying about you."  
"Why would you? I ca-ow!... take care of myself."  
"Because, even with all your weapons and training, you're not as indestructible as you'd like to think you are." The elder pulled his hands away when he was satisfied with his work. "I'm... concerned about your safety. Like I told you before we landed, you have a family now. It's my job to make sure you're okay."

The admission made Ratchet's tough guy act disappear, his ears falling a little. He felt a little touched to be honest, reminding him of the same feelings that had flooded through him when they first met. To be close like this was something he'd secretly wished for upon first seeing the other Lombax, the idea that they would actually get along after being apart from their species for so long. He nodded his head in 'defeat'.  
"Alright. I'll be careful, Azimuth."

Azimuth himself blinked at the use of his name rather than his title, a smile crossing his own features as he gave a gentle pat to his partner's shoulder.  
"Well, we wouldn't want your friend to see you incapacitated when we make contact, would we?"  
Ratchet smirked at how true it was. The rant he would get from Clank about being careless would probably give him a headache.

The two remained silent for a while longer, listening to the sounds of the flare and quiet dripping of moisture off the cave walls.  
"Must be getting late. I can't hear the Tetramites," Azimuth commented. "They must be going back to their nest."  
"Good," Ratchet concurred. "Those things sting."  
"Oh? And what happened to 'a little nanotech'll sort it out'?"  
"Well, uh... ah, forget it," he fumbled, batting his hands down as if to dismiss the topic, much to the General's amusement.

Ratchet leaned back to rest on his elbows with a soft grunt, staring at the runes again.  
"You know, I wonder what my father would've said about all this. You did say he studied it, right?"  
"Once we get to the Clock, you can show him yourself," Azimuth suggested. As nice of a mental image at that would be to share a moment with his lost parent, Ratchet's smile faltered a little. Something about it still seemed too convenient in his head. Azimuth noticed it with a subtle tilt of his head in inquiry.

"You really think it can do that?" the gold Lombax wondered. "Fix everything?"  
"I do. I absolutely do," Azimuth replied, confident in his convictions. "The Zoni have created marvels of technology throughout Polaris' history. A temporal construct would be nothing to them."  
"I suppose..." Ratchet replied, staring off into the distance. He smirked a little at a thought manifesting in his head. "I can kinda already see him and Clank having a big discussion about all this stuff, all the jargon included. Bet they'd get along just fine, huh, General?"  
Azimuth took a moment longer than normal to respond.  
"Yes, of course."

Ratchet hummed to himself as he closed his eyes to see it in his head. Maybe Azimuth was right. Maybe this _could_ be a case where it was just as good as it sounded. He'd have Clank back, he'd have his own _parents_ back. And he'd also have gained a trusted ally and member of the family in the process through Azimuth. The imaginings running through his brain kept the smile constant on his face, even as a sudden yawn seized him.

Noticing Ratchet beginning to slump over as his elbows slipped in their support, Azimuth reached into one of his pockets with a hand while the other leaned up to catch his companion's backwards descent.  
"Easy there," he murmured, taking care to gently lay Ratchet down on the ground and avoid hitting his injured arm. He raised a brow, finding it rather funny about the young one's choice of a place to nap. "That tired, are we?"  
"Wha...? Nah, nah, I'm not sleepy, just resting my eyes..." Ratchet slurred.

Azimuth nodded to himself as if to joke how convinced he was, pulling out a foldable blanket from the pocket and placing it over the younger Lombax with care. Any military man was always prepared, even for overnight operations.  
"Get some rest, your arm needs to heal up before we can use nano on it. I'll keep watch for a while."  
"Oh... alright..." Ratchet yawned, admitting his fatigue. "Thanks, General..."

Azimuth smiled and took position in front of their little fire, his yellow tinted eyes scanning the darkness for anything that would hurt his companion. A few hours to slow down would probably do him some good as well...


	3. Contact

**Ratchet & Clank: Fractures In Time**

**3\. Contact**

_"It's all your fault!"_  
_"You think you deserve to come with us after what you did?"_  
_"I have to save her, Alister, please!"_

Azimuth awoke with a start and gasp of air, confusion wild inside him as he tried to make sense of where he was. The flames, the laser fire, they'd suddenly stopped. Where had... wait. He wasn't fighting. This wasn't Fastoon. This was... a cave? Yes, the caves of Krell Canyon. He remembered. He screwed his eyes closed again, trying to shield himself as a beam of light from a small gap in the rocks above his head managed to get just the right angle to hit his face.

It was hard to tell how long it had been, but it seemed like a good few hours since he had last been awake. The General exhaled, rubbing at his temple. He'd been just as tired as Ratchet had been without realising it if he'd fallen asleep himself. Whether a symptom of old age or his own persistence, he couldn't say, but the fact didn't surprise him since he tended to put off sleeping as often as he could. The dreams that followed it were never the good sort. They hadn't been for years.

Azimuth yawned and looked around the cave to check it was all clear. The last thing he needed right now was another horde of the 'mites ready to jump them both, but it didn't seem to be the case. As he tried to get up, he was surprised to feel a slight weight on his thigh, looking down to his right. Ratchet's head was laying against him, using it as a pillow after he had shifted during the night to find a better place to rest.

Azimuth couldn't help but smile a little, the memory of his own dream dissipating at the sight. He gently shook his leg, trying to stir his younger companion.  
"Ratchet, come on. We need to get going."  
The youth groaned and slowly lifted his head up, pushing himself up onto his elbows as the blanket slid away from his torso. He seemed a little confused, wondering where he'd managed to find a pillow from before he fell asleep, all before he realised _how_ he had been sleeping when he looked behind him.

With a yelp, Ratchet suddenly darted away, throwing the blanket off him in the process as he stumbled over himself on hands and knees. Clearly confused, and possibly with a hint of embarrassment, he stuttered for words.  
"Uh, wow! I didn't... I mean, I wasn't trying to, uh... sorry, I-"  
"I forgive you, sleepyhead," Azimuth smirked as he stood up, extending his arm to help Ratchet to his feet. "Come on, we have an Eye to find."

* * *

The pair soon found themselves at the foot of the temple steps, Zoni architecture sticking out like a sore thumb against the bland surroundings of the cavern. It reminded Ratchet of the same buildings in the Fongoid village back on Quantos, further strengthening the connection between the two races. Unsurprisingly, Azimuth had run ahead, though Ratchet was now able to keep up thanks to his rest.

"Come on, Ratchet, don't fall behind! The Great Clock awaits!"  
"I'm trying!" he called back, nearly tripping over his own feet clumsily as the older Lombax seemed to go even _faster_ in his eagerness to reach the temple. As if sensing Ratchet's amazement to why, the General yelled behind him.

"Do you realise that we are just_ hours _away from reversing the greatest tragedy in the history of the universe?!" he called, sounding almost rapturous to the idea as the duo hurried up the stairs to the main temple chamber. "Just think of it! Your mother, your father! They'll _both_ be right here, safe and sound!"  
"And you really think the Clock can save them?" Ratchet asked, slowing down to walking pace as he caught up to Azimuth crossing the threshold of the temple door.  
"Of course!" the elder assured his young charge, patting Ratchet on the shoulder with a firm swing downward. "That's what it was built for, come on!"

In the centre of the circular room, apparently the only room left standing after the passage of time had buried the other chambers, lay the prize the Lombaxes sought. The Obsidian Eye. It was a more compact and portable design than the one Ratchet had used on Merdegraw, most likely due to their relative proximity to where the Zoni came from in comparison, but the overall machine looked like it did the same function. Azimuth approached the command console, tracing his fingers over the keys emblazoned with the runes he had studied. He reasoned he should be able to make it work like this.

But the General noticed a problem. Glancing to his left, he could see the Fulcrum Star, the power source that every Eye in existence ran on to contact the Zoni. The crystalline outer shell had splintered, exposing the small mechanical circuitry inside. This wasn't a good sign.  
"Fulcrum Star's cracked," he commented aloud, tapping on a few of the keys to search for a possible link. "We may not be able to get a signal."

"Do it," Ratchet blurted out, resting both his hands on the console and peering in towards the crystal display in the centre with a collected and focused expression. Azimuth obliged without a word. Even if there was a chance it couldn't connect, this was the closest he'd ever been to seeing Clank again. Inside, however, Ratchet was chaotic in contrast to his outer appearance.

His heart was thumping hard against his ribcage, his throat going dry as the anxiety of the coming moments built inside him. He had been imagining and dreaming of this for years, rehearsing what he would do when he finally saw Clank again. Yet now his head was going blank as to what he was actually going to do.

If this worked, if Clank did answer him, what _was_ he going to say? Would Clank even be able to answer in the first place? He could just make out the General's hands pressing on the keys in his peripheral vision as an automated voice from the system announced itself.  
_"Stand by for system uplink." _

The machinery started to whir underneath Ratchet's fingers, the display in front of him showing a fuzzy interference as the connection was being made. He held his breath, his heart even louder in his own ears as the seconds ticked by. They were very long seconds. All outside stimuli was shut out, his one focus being on that screen. Searching for anything, any detail or shape that would prove it was really him. That it was really Clank.  
"Come on, come on, please..." he muttered to himself, eyes wide and scanning the black and white lines of static.

A matter of seconds later, something emerged. The signal established itself with a series of bleeps from the Eye's systems and Ratchet gasped. It was clearly a chamber of some sort, metallic and circular but without the necessary angle to see any of the details. But what that place was didn't matter as much as the central focus of the screen.

A small-in-stature robot, facing away from the Eye, a small flare of red pulsing from the antenna atop of their head. Ratchet flung his body forward, almost throwing himself into the screen as he let out a yell.  
"_Clank!_"

The small mechanoid jumped at the sudden outburst, swishing his head left and right to find out who had just screamed his name. He turned on the spot and finally looked into the lens behind him, his mouth falling open when he found himself staring right at Ratchet dead in the eye. Neither of them said a thing for a few moments, almost as if they were both too surprised to actually be seeing each other after so long. Eventually, Clank was the one the break the silence.

"Ratchet...?"  
"Yeah..." the Lombax said softly as he pressed his fingertips to the screen. This felt like a dream. His mental rehearsals didn't feel like they mattered any more as he could only think of one thing to say. "Hey, buddy."  
"... hello, Ratchet."  
"How you doin'? You're not hurt or...?"  
"I am... fine. You?"  
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm good."

Such an casual greeting didn't feel appropriate, but Ratchet was never good at this sort of thing even at the best of times. He let out a smirk, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly as Clank simply smiled with a shake of the head. It was like nothing had happened, like they'd only talked yesterday.  
"How did you find me?" the robot asked.  
"It wasn't easy, you know. Had to deal with pirate curses, make deals for intel, even _research_ stuff. I sucked at it compared to you."  
"You did all that for me?"  
"You kidding me? You think I'd leave my best pal out here alone?"  
"...no, I suppose you wouldn't," Clank reasoned, nodding himself in return with his best approximation of a smile and that signature chuckle. "It is... good to see you."  
"Yeah, it is. To see _you_, I mean. Not _me_, obviously. Uh..." Ratchet stumbled.

Another bout of silence followed, though neither could be sure how long it truly lasted. But they didn't need words to communicate how happy they were to finally talk after so many years apart from one another. In truth, even if they did want to talk, neither would know what to say beyond what they already had. It wasn't until a third voice joined the conversation that the pair of them broke out of their little trance.

"Signal's degrading, Ratchet, we don't have much time." Azimuth reminded, nudging his companion in the arm.  
"Hm? Who is that behind you?" Clank uttered, tilting his head a little to the side before his eyes flared open in surprise. "Is that... a Lombax?"  
"Oh, yeah! This is General Azimuth!" Ratchet exclaimed, pointing towards the elder. "He's been helping me look for you!"  
"A pleasure, Clank," Azimuth said with a fold of his arms. "He speaks very highly of you."  
"I'll explain everything later," the younger Lombax promised. "Just send me your co-ordinates and we'll pick you up!"

Suddenly, the lights of the Eye dimmed considerably, like the computer itself was losing power. Azimuth typed frantically on the keys to try and figure out the problem when the system announced aloud again.  
_"Signal integrity 33%."_  
"No, no, not now!" cursed Ratchet, leaning towards the General's hands to see what he was doing. "Try boosting the power!"  
"The Star hasn't got much left to give, I'm trying to compensate!"  
However, before the two of them could try to figure out a more specific fix, Clank interrupted their efforts.

"Ratchet, please listen," the robot urged, grabbing his friend's full attention immediately. "I need your help. Orvus is in trouble."  
"Orvus?" Ratchet repeated.  
"The one the Chamber is named after," Azimuth explained. "According to the legends, he controls the Clock as its Caretaker."  
"I believe that he may be in danger," Clank insisted. "You must go to Zanifar and confront Dr. Nefarious!"  
"Zanifar?" the General queried, his brow tilting upward. "Dr. Nefarious hasn't set foot on that rock since his station was completed two years ago."  
"Then that is when you must confront him!"

Ratchet blinked, switching between Azimuth and Clank to try and get some sort of idea as to what was going on. Clank was talking about a past event. How could they confront the villain if he hadn't been on that world for years? But a spark from the upper mountings of the Eye snapped him back to reality. They didn't have much time to speak left.  
"What do you need me to do?" he asked, like he was taking charge of this request personally.  
"Head to the Tombli Outpost and look for a temporal rift, like the ones on the other planets," Clank pleaded. "Please, Ratchet... save my father."  
"Father?!" Ratchet exclaimed, his eyes narrowing as the static started to hide Clank's image from him. What was he talking about? "Clank, what's going on? Clank!"

The signal finally died and Clank disappeared. Azimuth huffed, taking his hands away from the controls. They weren't able to get a location of the Clock from Ratchet's friend. Worse, this was one of the only ways to contact individuals inside the Clock itself and they didn't have time to try and find another Eye because of Nefarious' machinations.

But still, it wasn't all a lost cause. If they were able to find Orvus, the Clock's own Caretaker, then they would be able to get the location from him. And surely a small correction of the past would be a small thing to ask of the Zoni for saving their most important one's life?  
"I'm sorry," the General apologised, folding his arms again. "I tried to keep it connected as long as I could, but-"  
"He's OK. He's really OK. He's safe."

Ratchet's quiet words caused Azimuth to cease talking. His younger companion was still resting against the controls of the Eye, staring into the crystal that had shown his friend mere moments ago. His brow was crumpled, as though he was sad at his chance being so brief, but the smile he had upon first seeing Clank was still stretched wide across his face. He was just so _relieved_ to see Clank, to hear his voice again. After so many years, it was worth it. He knew his friend was alright.

Azimuth's own features softened, leaning in a little closer.  
"Are you alright?"  
Ratchet didn't react immediately, feeling his eyes sting a little. He suddenly inhaled sharply, pushing himself away from the Eye and shaking his head, blinking rapidly a few times as if to try and contain his brief emotional failure. No, he wasn't going to do that.  
"I'm okay, yeah," he sighed, turning to face the General with a flash of his teeth. "Alright. I guess we better get going, huh?"

* * *

It was now the younger Lombax's turn to show his eagerness, as though he'd been reinvigorated from the transmission of the Eye. The pair chose to leave the temple through a weak spot in the rock that was streaming in light through a back wall. A quick toss of one of the Azimuth's bombs blasted it away, revealing the chamber of the caves that their ships had landed in. Awfully convenient, or so Ratchet thought as he used his hoverboots to glide down to where Aphelion had parked. Azimuth followed him down a moment later in spirits that weren't quite as positive.

This was going to be tricky. As good as it had been to get some indication on where they could find the Clock, the General knew after that call that it wasn't Ratchet's primary focus. Throughout all of this, it was clear that the Clock was a secondary objective in his mind, his long lost friend prioritised over all of it. Azimuth needed to be sure that they were on the same wavelength regarding the machine.

Even more important, if his younger partner agreed that they should use the Clock's powers to change the past for the better, he was still attached to Clank in a way that was far stronger than that agreement. If they were able to succeed and correct the mistake of years past... then the ramifications of that were worth talking about now.

"Ratchet, hold on," Azimuth announced, reaching on a hand to touch the golden Lombax's shoulder and stop him mid-step.  
"Huh? What's up General?" came the reply, his tone the most upbeat the elder had ever heard it. Even that eager smile hadn't faded, causing Azimuth's own sombre expression to worsen at the chance of ruining it.  
"Listen, there's... something I haven't told you about the Clock," he admitted, the words causing Ratchet's pleased expression to falter.  
"What do you mean?"  
"If we succeed, if we turn back time and stop Tachyon... the present as you know it will no longer exist."

Ratchet's ears fell.  
"I don't understand."  
"If we use the Clock to go back and prevent the attack on Fastoon, then we'll be changing the past," Azimuth explained, his grip on the younger one's shoulder tightening. "And that will change the entire timeline, including the very present we stand in now. Everything that's led up to this point will never have happened."

Ratchet's grin disappeared completely. He'd been so caught up in the idea of gaining everything back that he'd lost over the last few years that he'd never thought about what he'd be losing if they used the Clock. More importantly, _who_ he'd be losing.  
"You mean I won't remember Clank...?"  
Azimuth hoped this wouldn't turn the Lombax off the idea of the Clock for good. But it needed to be said now before they found it and the doubts manifested then.

"What I mean is... you'll never have met him in the first place," he stated, leaning in a little closer to rest his other hand against Ratchet's opposite shoulder. "I know what he means to you. And the Clock may offer some kind of temporal immunity to those who use it so we'd still remember, but... there are no guarantees."

Ratchet's head looked at the ground, trying to process this information and understand the choice he'd be having to make. If they used the Clock, he'd be getting his family and his people back as though they'd never left him alone in Solana. But then he'd be losing his closest friend as an exchange, sacrificed for his own happiness. Even with Azimuth's suggestion that they'd still remember, what else would change with the Lombaxes returning? Would Clank ever crash on Veldin? Would _he_ even be on Veldin to meet him? And what about everything else the duo had done together?

A world without Clank was horrible to think about. That's what had gone through Ratchet's head the first few days after the Zoni had kidnapped his robot companion. And yet Azimuth had also been right in insisting this would be the only chance he had to regain his family, to know what it was like to even have one. He hadn't gone on this journey to do that, but the power of the Clock would allow him to. How was he to decide?

Until he knew more, Ratchet couldn't really say with certainty. If he wanted Azimuth to stay around, he also didn't want to risk upsetting his elder with any doubts he'd continued to have about this cosmic temporal machine. He decided to play along for now.  
"...if this is the only chance to save my family, I have to take it."

Azimuth seemed satisfied by the answer, nodding with an encouraging smile and a parting rub of the smaller Lombax's arm.  
"Good. We'll get through this, Ratchet. It'll all turn out for the best."  
Ratchet returned the smile with a weaker one. Though in his heart, doubt still clung to him as hard as Tetramites to nectar. Something just felt... wrong.  
"Yeah... it will."

* * *

The two Lombaxes had barely left left Lumos' atmosphere when they ran into a problem. Azimuth had detected Vorselon's cruiser on an intercept course just on the edge of the sector, most likely scanning for the usage of the Eye thanks to Nefarious' resources at Pollyx. The General had insisted that Ratchet travel to Zanifar without him to unravel the mystery of Orvus' disappearance while he acted as a distraction. As the elder steered away from Aphelion, he left only one prime directive to follow: If he found Orvus, get the location of the Clock from him at all costs.

Ratchet had agreed, but knew that he would have to play this carefully. Even though he had arrived in Breegus to find Clank, he was quickly becoming wrapped up in events much larger than the two of them, just like with Tachyon back in Solana. It gave him a nauseous feeling in the pit of his stomach, like only bad things were going to come out of this when all was said and done.

His hands gripped harder on the ship controls as he steered towards Zanifar. Time to focus. Clank had said to look for a rift like the others he'd seen around the system. Even if the prospect of time travel was enough to make his head spin, Ratchet could endure to help his friend out. Always.

The events on Zanifar proved to just as enlightening as everything else Ratchet had learned so far. Using the powers of a portal that he could only assume Clank had generated from the Clock, it seemed that Dr. Nefarious had somehow crashed onto the planet some years ago near a native Fongoid village. The residents had acted even stranger than normal when Ratchet had met them in the past, their strange vocal tics made even worse by the near hypnotic state they were all in. After all, no-one would dare to suggest they'd share gum with the doctor unless they were being _made_ to say it somehow.

Thankfully, Ratchet had avoided being snared under this weird suggestive trance and used the manipulation of time through the portal to make his way inside Nefarious' stronghold, built by the Fongoids themselves in their enslavement. As he dispatched the final wave of guards with a few well aimed Spirals of Carnage, he called an elevator to the highest floor and double checked his equipment on the way up. Though he was thankful more reinforcements hadn't been sent down, it only made sense that they would instead be waiting for him up top.

In total truth, he wasn't sure what exactly he was going to do. He hadn't even considered what this Orvus would even look like, yet alone how to save him from Nefarious. Which meant, as normal, he was leaping into this totally blind. Was he a robot like Clank? Something else? Or was Clank only acting off a hunch that he was on Zanifar at all?

If Orvus was here, Ratchet knew he was either going to be heavily guarded already or soon be double-crossed by Nefarious if he'd initially arrived on friendly terms. He had to hope he'd make it in time before there were too many to take on at once. The elevator came to a halt, the doors sliding open to take Ratchet out onto a balcony of some sort.

The hum of generators and computers shuddered through his feet, but it was the characteristic shouts of Nefarious and his short fuse that were overpowering everything reaching his ears. The plans for his yet-to-be-built station floated in a holographic display in the middle of the room, proving this was the central chamber of the facility. If Orvus was alive, he was going to be here.

Peering down below, the Lombax saw that Nefarious was stood in front of some sort of tube in the corner, the synthetic doctor screaming and demanding information from whatever was inside it. It was clearly some sort of containment cell for a prisoner and Ratchet's eyes went wide when he realised who it was.

It was a Zoni, unlike the others that he had seen before. It was alone, floating in the middle of the cell with the characteristic aura of Zoni bioenergy in a halo around it. But that halo was flickering. The Zoni seemed weak, its limbs hanging weakly as its side as its larger head had slumped off to the side. The head in question was wearing a pointed headpiece with an insignia resembling a clock face, far different from the antennae of the others.

_That _was Orvus? If it was, he was in a bad way. Ratchet's brow lowered in anger, the state of the Caretaker proving Clank's intuition correct. Had Nefarious been torturing him? What for?  
"You twit!" the doctor screeched, looming over the Terachnoid to his side. "You told me this would work!"  
"I-I don't know what's happening, we should have found it by now!" the creature blubbered as an excuse. "He must have erased his own memory!"  
"Time is... a gift... and not to be tampered with..." Orvus murmured, his eyes struggling to stay open.

Ratchet threw one of his legs over the balcony railing, knowing that he had to get down there before it was too late. He timed his jump to land on the ground at the moment Nefarious raised his voice again to keep himself undetected. Easy to do when the madman was so darn _loud_.

Clank's hunch was proven correct. Nefarious seemed to have lured Orvus here to get information about the Clock, but the Caretaker had either hidden or erased the memory of what he sought. It was a smart move, though the doctor was not deterred.  
"This is your last chance, Orvus," Nefarious growled, brandishing his clawed hands. "How do I get into the Chamber?!"  
"You are making a mistake...!" the Zoni protested. "The Clock is _not_ a time machine..."

Nefarious had clearly had enough, gesturing his hand behind him towards a strange machine that floated mere feet away. It responded with a sudden burst of energy from a cannon on its lower half, a piercing screech resonating through the air and causing Ratchet to press his hands down hard against his own ears. A sonic device of this power was more than enough to give him a headache, but a death sentence to a being of energy like a Zoni.

The machine's blast fired towards the material of the cell, the powerful vibrations shaking through Orvus' body despite the sudden flaring of his bioenergy to defend himself. Though the dismal noise kept him wincing, Ratchet could still see Orvus with his one open eye. And he looked... confident? Cocky even?  
"There is only one who will enter my chamber. And he is safe, far from you!"

Orvus closed his eyes, concentrating his power between his short arms before a flash of light suddenly enveloped his body. As the machine's sonic attack disengaged, Nefarious lunged towards the glass in shock. The empty glass.  
"W-Where is he? Where did he go?!" Nefarious raged.  
"I don't know, sir! I'm pulling up a residual image from his data banks," the Terachnoid confirmed, tapping away at keys on a small tablet in his tentacle. "We scanned it just before he... dissipated..."  
_'Damn it, I wasn't fast enough...'_ Ratchet cursed mentally.

A display flashed into being, said image loading line by line until a silhouette appeared on the screen from the interpreted data. A silhouette belonging to the one Orvus had mentioned, the last thing in his head before he had disappeared. And it was a robot that Ratchet knew all too well.  
"Clank?" he said aloud, only to clamp his jaws shut when he realised what he had done. Real smart move. Nefarious turned around, looking at the Lombax dead in the eye.  
"You!"

Ratchet had little time to think of what to do, fumbling from his knelt down position to break into a run. Even if he hadn't saved Orvus, he had to escape to tell the tale of what happened. He reached into his armour's inventory, enlarging his collapsible Constructo glove and using one of his bombs to act as a distraction, just like Azimuth had done before.

He didn't even look back to see where the explosive landed when he tossed it, nor what the explosion eventually hit. All he needed to know was that the secondary charges would cause enough damage and carnage to take the heat off him as he ran for the quickest way out. The window.

As he tucked in his body to break through the glass, all Ratchet could hear was the furious scream of Nefarious ordering his troops to annihilate him as laser shots barely missed his head in the process. From there, it was a straight shot back through the rift to the present day to escape, the Lombax speeding on his hoverboots through the former Fongoid camp that had been built over their village after that event in the past.

* * *

Ratchet couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Despite what he had promised to do for Clank, he had been unable to save Orvus, in fact having no idea where the Zoni had even disappeared to when he was attacked. But he could at least be thankful that he had learned things just as important as a location for the Clock. He now knew what Nefarious to trying to do, to access some sort of 'chamber' inside the machine. But most important of all, a dire warning from the Caretaker himself continued to fuel his hesitation about using it like Azimuth wanted to.

_"The Clock is not a time machine."_

A device that had the ability to control the flow of time itself, across the entire universe no less, and yet its _creator_ was insisting that it should never be used for that. It didn't make sense. Was Azimuth wrong? Was the Clock ever a time machine like he thought the runes told him? Or was it the same mistake that now fed Nefarious' desires in his quest to gain control of it?

If so, that didn't make sense either. Maybe Ratchet just didn't have all the pieces to understand, but Clank had just used the Clock to send him back in time. What was it that Orvus could have meant? And why had Clank seemingly broken his own father's rules in order to send the Lombax back to change what happened?

Ratchet contemplated these questions as he jumped into Aphelion's cockpit, settling into his seat and testing his controls in preparation for take-off. When he reunited with Clank after meeting up with Azimuth, they'd be able to go from there and sort this out. That seemed best, especially since thinking about the logistics and ethics of time manipulation was too much for his brain.

His hand was just about to seal his cockpit visor when the central display screen lit up with an incoming transmission alert. Ratchet raised a brow, not having expected such a thing. Perhaps it was Azimuth with an update on what he'd been doing while he'd been on Zanifar. After all, despite their last communication, the General hadn't arrived planet side even with all that had gone down. He cautiously accepted the hail with the push of a button and the visage of someone far less desirable than the elder flashed up to meet him.

"Greetings, young Lombax, " Lord Vorselon announced, the camera zoomed close in to the dome where the cyborg's last organic parts were sustained. "I think I may have come across something that belongs to you."  
The transmission view zoomed out above the villain's shoulder, panning upward to reveal what seemed like a prison cell surrounded by heavy iron bars. And in that cell, with hands clasped against them with a furious glare on his face, was Alister Azimuth.

"General!" Ratchet cried, baring his teeth in anger. "Let him go, Vorselon!"  
"Oh, it is a dark day when one is tasked with destroying half the galaxy's Lombax population," Vorselon carried on, almost as though he either couldn't hear Ratchet, or was ignoring him outright. "I assure you I act only out of contractual obligation, hahaha!"  
"Ratchet, don't listen to him!" Azimuth yelled from behind, causing Vorselon's one eye to flick to his side in annoyance. "Forget about me, find the Cloc-argh!"

A sudden burst of electrical discharge from Vorselon's claw stopped the General in his tracks, forcing him away from the bars and making him stumble onto one knee. Ratchet's teeth grit harder as he growled under his breath. First Orvus, now Azimuth? Both Nefarious and Vorselon were going to pay for indulging their sadistic tendencies like this.

"Only one Lombax need perish tonight," the Lord explained. "If you would be willing to take his place, I'd happily postpone the execution!"  
"Just tell me where you are!" Ratchet demanded.  
"Ratchet, don't!" wheezed Azimuth from the back.  
"I've uploaded co-ordinates to your ship. Tick tock, better hurry!"

With a sickening laugh that made Ratchet's stomach turn, Vorselon's transmission shut down. His grip on the controls tightened enough to nearly break them. This was a trap. Even the most amateur of adventurers knew that people like Vorselon were never going to keep their word, nor was it going to be as easy as a simple hostage exchange. This was going to call for a classic rescue mission to get Azimuth back, a chance to prove to the General that he could do this with his own skill.

"Hang on, Azimuth, I'm on my way."


	4. Rescue

**Ratchet & Clank: Fractures In Time**

**4\. Rescue**

Ratchet followed the co-ordinates to Vorselon's ship, the giant green cruiser parked as if the cyborg criminal was simply waiting for him to show up like he had promised. Far too honourable for someone like Vorselon, but the Lombax would take it to save one of his own. The troopers inside the ship did little to stop his progress to where Azimuth was being held, mostly thanks to his severely upgraded weaponry. He checked a small radar display on the inside of his wrist, following the signal on his nav unit to track down the General's signature. Azimuth had made it clear that you needed to be prepared for anything, something Vorselon found out the hard way when he intercepted Ratchet halfway.

After forcing the cowardly assassin to flee like a sore loser, Ratchet had dismissed him and reached the very bowels of the ship, one of the lower engineering decks that Vorselon had transformed into a makeshift holding area for his Lombax prisoner. As he looked above him, he could see the cell was now reinforced with what seemed to be a forcefield around the bars themselves as an extra security measure. Maybe this wouldn't be quite so simple, but at least the cyborg owner of the vessel had been dealt with.

Azimuth peered through the bars as he heard the younger Lombax come in, his face creased into a look of frustration at what he was seeing. What on earth was Ratchet doing here? He'd been specifically ordered _not_ to come to Vorselon's ship and yet he had disobeyed for some folly of a rescue mission! He called down, noticing Ratchet's more than casual stance betraying the seriousness of what he'd done. Every second wasted was a second more for their enemies to act.

"Ratchet! What are you doing?"  
"Relax, General, rescue missions are kinda my thing!" he grinned back, only hardening Azimuth's frown at his flippancy.  
"You know what I mean!" he exclaimed. "I told you to find the Clock!"  
"And I will! But we're going find it together, so I'm gonna get you out of there first," Ratchet insisted. "Now, how do I lower the containment field..."

The Lombax mechanic analysed the situation, noticing a mixture of versa-fuses sticking out of exposed points around the top of Azimuth's cell. Vorselon had done this as a quick job to get it working in time, the wiring and power management clearly sloppy work. All it'd take would be a few quick tugs with the kinetic tether and it would power down and release the bar mechanisms all in one. Simple, right?

As Ratchet got to work, flicking out the head of his wrench to attach to the first fuse, Azimuth was still making it obvious that he was not impressed with this impulsive decision to rescue him.  
"Look, you're wasting your time! Forget about me, _get to the Clock_!"  
"There's one..." Ratchet muttered to himself, pulling out the first fuse and noticing a substantial drop in brightness to the intense glow of the forcefield. He move on to the second.

Azimuth pressed himself harder against the bars that held him.  
"Reinforcements will be here any minute! You have to _go_!"  
"And there's... two!"  
Another yank, another destroyed fuse. The forcefield itself dissipated into nothing, leaving only the moving parts of the bars to override to shut off power to. One more fuse.

Azimuth audibly growled in irritation, stepping away from the bars with a hard shove of himself off the cage. What was wrong with this boy? He insisted he was fine when hurt, he disobeyed direct orders from his elder, he was nearly every bit as stubborn as Kaden was and not in a good way. The General ground his teeth together with a huff, only mildly paying attention to the final failure of the last fuse when the bars in front of him moved upwards out of sight.

Ratchet leaned against the pile of broken fuses he'd created directly below the cell, trying to act casual at being able to get past all of Vorselon's forces like this. Surely Azimuth would be impressed at that, right? In a way, it was returning the favour for the General's help with his injury in the caves. He felt the vibration of the General landing on the floor out of his cell, pushing himself up with his wrench.  
"I know, I know, it was touch and go there for a little while!" Ratchet spouted off with a cool shrug, clearly playing up on it for effect. "But the ol' Lombax instinct kicked in and-"  
"You _fool_."

Ratchet stopped dead in his tracks, feeling a sudden chill down his spine at the sheer anger in that voice. His posture froze up, his previous sense of false bravado dissolving into nothing as Azimuth turned on the spot to face him. His amber eyes were glaring at him with the same ferocity he had shown their enemies, suddenly making the golden Lombax feel very small. Very small indeed.  
"What...?" he asked meekly.  
"I told you to leave me!" Azimuth snapped, taking firm steps towards Ratchet. "You shouldn't have come back!"

The last word was punctuated by the elder slamming his wrench into the ground by Ratchet's foot. The younger of the pair flinched, finding himself leaning back as the General loomed over him.  
"Wow. That was... not the reaction I was expecting," Ratchet mumbled, braving a smile to try and lighten the mood. Surely it wasn't _that_ big a deal.  
"Enough, Ratchet!" Azimuth yelled, wiping that smile right off his face. "You _know_ you wasted valuable time coming here, time that you've let our enemies have to reach the Clock before us!"  
"I wasn't going to just let Vorselon hold you here when-"  
"I _ordered_ you to stay away! The Clock is our top priority and every moment we waste is another moment our chance to save our kind slips through our fingers! We're so close and _you_ put it in jeopardy with this stupid mission!"

Azimuth exhaled harshly, turned away from his younger counterpart and began to walk away, punctuating every other step with a stamp of his weapon into the floor. Might as well make tracks now that he was out, otherwise they'd end up losing even _more _ground in their race to find the Clock against Nefarious.

Ratchet opened his mouth to speak, his words failing him as such an aggressive response to his rescue had completely bewildered him. He knew that Azimuth had trouble keeping his more powerful emotions in check at times, but he had exploded at him with a fury that he'd never thought he'd ever see put his way. He tried to follow the General, attempting to get his attention.

"Look, it's not all bad! I can tell you what I learned about the Clock!" he protested. "Just give me a chance to explain."  
"Unless it's a location, explain later," Azimuth growled. "We've already lost enough time in here."  
"Look, I've not been just sitting around all day! I travelled back in time, I found out what happened to Orvus-"

Azimuth stopped mid-step, whirling around on the spot as his rage vanished into thin air. His friend had allowed him to use the Clock to time travel on Zanifar? He'd actually gone to the past?  
"Back in time...?" he repeated, desperation rising in his tone at the implications of this news. "When? How far?!"

Ratchet's face fell, rubbing behind his head and bracing himself for another round of shouting since he knew the answer wasn't going to be what his elder wanted to hear.  
"Not... far enough."  
To Ratchet's surprise, and internal relief, Azimuth did not raise his voice or yell. He simply turned his gaze to the floor and nodded with a sigh.

The elder mentally kicked himself for losing control again, knowing that it had been the same thing that had happened back on Lumos. It was so hard for him to stay collected these days when so many years of hoping and searching was starting to come to a head. His expression turned softer as he retracted his staff into a more portable form and stepped towards Ratchet.

"It's alright," he assured, his voice much calmer. "I... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that."  
"Well, you had a point," Ratchet admitted with a weak shrug. "I shouldn't have charged in here when you told me not to."  
"It's still no excuse for how I acted. It's just... we're the only ones who can fix the past," Azimuth said, kneeling down until he was on the same eye level as Ratchet. "We can't chance it going wrong."  
"Then we won't," the golden Lombax replied, clenching a fist in determination. "We'll get to Clank _and_ the Clock before Nefarious comes within light years of them."  
Azimuth smiled, patting his young friend on the shoulder as he stood back up.  
"I know I've been poor at showing it. But I'm proud of you, Ratchet."

At that very moment, a siren suddenly burst into life over the two Lombaxes' heads, drawing their attention upwards as red light bathed them in what was clearly an alert of the prisoner being set free. Ratchet readjusted the grip on his wrench, spinning it loosely in his wrist as if he was preparing for another battle.  
"Come on, it's time to go."  
Azimuth concurred, readying his own weapon and gesturing for Ratchet to take point to see just how much he'd improved in their short time apart. They were getting out of there, both of them.

* * *

After escaping Vorselon's clutches in characteristic explosive fashion, Ratchet and Azimuth had used information stolen from the criminal's flight computer to get coordinates to the Bernilius Sector. Because of what had happened with Orvus, it was only lead they had to go on, a lead that did thankfully seem to pan out when Ratchet could detect the Nefarious-shaped structure of the doctor's space station at the edge of his radar. He rolled his eyes at the obvious display of "supervillainy", but it was at least a step in the right direction.

"Ratchet, come in," Azimuth's voice announced over the comms, breaking him out of his thoughts.  
"I read you, General," he replied, adjusting his frequency to deal with some lingering static. "What's up?"  
"I just picked up a looping transmission on one of the emergency frequencies. It might be nothing, but tell me what you make of this."  
"Patch it through."

It was a repeating fluctuation of tones and noises, a specific beacon pattern that Ratchet had definitely heard before. Sparingly, but it was instantly recognisable. He should have been elated at managing to establish some sort of connection after the Eye had failed, but the fact it was coming from this sector where the Clock definitely wasn't concerned him.

"That's a distress call with Clank's signature!" he exclaimed, tapping a few of the keys on his display in order to launch a tracing program. "Aphelion, can you track the source?" Thanks to the ship's Zoni improvements, she'd calculated it in mere seconds.  
_"The origin appears to be planet Vapedia. Acquiring coordinates now."_  
"Just think!" Azimuth declared, sounding jovial at the news. "By tonight, your friend will be safe and the Clock will be ours! I'll be there as soon as I can."  
"Roger that, General. See you planet side."

Ratchet cut off the channel and turned the ship towards the planet, the one near the far end of the sector. If what Azimuth had told him about the Valkyries was true, then this was probably going to be a base of operations for them. All the more reason for him to doubt that the distress call was genuine. It reeked of a set up, just like Vorselon with Azimuth's capture before.

But... it was Clank. He wasn't going to risk it _not_ being real, not when his dream of reunion was so close he could nearly touch it. Ratchet exhaled to steady himself. It wouldn't be long now.

* * *

As predicted, Vapedia wasn't going to just give Clank to them. The Valkyries had erected a floating Citadel high in the clouds above the actual surface of the planet, a forced necessity after their previous colony had been atomised in a supernova according to the General. Clank's distress signal was coming from somewhere inside, calling for a rather aggressive but simple operation. A 'smash and grab' as the elder put it. Ratchet concurred.

After using a small craft to reach the central Citadel islands, the two Lombaxes were stopped in their tracks by a legion of Valkyrie soldiers with weapons trained on their heads. As much as Ratchet wanted to toast them all to keep moving, Azimuth held him back with an arm. The leader of the group herself, Cassiopeia, had made an appearance to handle their intrusion personally, meaning it was a good chance to get some information if she was the sort to gloat her power like her fellow already dispatched Valkyrie leaders.

As much as she didn't seem like a true threat because of her reliance on an armed platform to face them, Cassiopeia was still the boss of a legion of murderous women all the same, all of their sights targeted at the two Lombaxes. Ratchet eyed her down, knowing he would have to restrain himself from launching into a shouting tirade for kidnapping Clank. As the duo were held in place by the Valkyries surrounding them from all sides, their leader graced them with her voice.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the galaxy's favourite Lombaxes!" Cassiopeia cackled. "Come to rescue your little friend, hm?"  
"Our quarrel isn't with you, Cassiopeia," Azimuth snarled. "Hand over Clank and we'll cause no more trouble!"  
"Ahahahaha! Cause no more trouble, huh?" the Valkyrie sneered, her face suddenly turning murderous as she screamed down at them. "Carina and Libra are _dead_ thanks to you! Countless more of our pilot squads and foot soldiers! And you dare to say it's just 'trouble'?!"

"I don't care what you call it!" Ratchet cried, an insistent anger punctuating every syllable when his restraint failed him. He even braved taking a step forward despite the weapons aimed at him. "Give him back, you-!"  
"Easy, Ratchet," Azimuth hushed under his breath.  
"Ooh, well if you put it that way..." Cassiopeia smirked, gazing at one of her hands if to check her nails is a blatant dismissal of the Lombax's threat. "You can have him soon. We've gotten what we need from the Caretaker, so his time has come!"  
"I swear, if you've hurt him!"  
"Don't make threats you can't keep, space rat! Valkyries, destroy the Lombaxes!"

Cassiopeia's platform rose up and disappeared behind one of the towers of the Citadel, just as her legions suddenly lunged with their bulky melee weapons. Ratchet and Azimuth raised their wrenches, blocking the incoming blows and parrying with a flurry of counter-attacks. Ratchet himself was even more aggressive than the elder, every swing and thrust of his wrench head boosted by the raw power of his anger. The thought that vile woman was going to hurt Clank made his blood boil. Azimuth could sense it, prompting him to act in order to wrap this up before the impulsive youth made a mistake.

"If she's going to kill Clank, we need to be quick! I'm going after her, you try and keep those troops off my back!" he ordered.  
"Got it!" Ratchet answered, watching as Azimuth used his weapon's longer reach and his own weight to somersault over a large gap towards the spire Cassiopeia had fled to. The younger Lombax turned his attention to the outer buildings, knowing that a lot of the Valkyries would either be suiting up or getting ready to head out to defend their leader. But they weren't going to stop him. Nothing was.

* * *

His intuition was right as the Valkyries threw everything they had to try and stop him. Flying units, ground troops both ranged and melee, even training courses that had been converted into death traps three times, no less. Still, nothing even managed to slow him down, eventually to the point where he was finding the over-reliance on elaborate killing machines to be a little bit cliche.

Though, given how this was part of an "Unnecessarily Evil Initiative" that kept being screamed about between Cassiopeia and Nefarious over a comm channel, he was hardly surprised. Plus, seeing them have relationship drama kept him from slipping into a full rage because of how dumb it all sounded.

The Lombax didn't get a transmission from the General about how he was faring, but could only assume that he was too busy fighting off troops of his own, if not Cassiopeia herself. He could handle himself for now. The thing that worried Ratchet more was that he didn't know if Clank could. What had the Valkyries done with him? As he whacked his wrench into one of the door mechanisms of the Citadel to force it open, the most awful off possibilities started flooding his thoughts, an overreaction of sensing his partner was in danger.

What if she had captured and tortured him like Orvus? Cut him apart or sliced open his circuitry? Dissected him for the secrets of the Clock from his brain? Or was she actually on the cusp of killing him, like she threatened she would be...? He swallowed hard. Every mental image of Clank in such a state made Ratchet cringe, distracting him from what he was supposed to be doing.

It didn't matter in the end. If Clank was hurt, he'd fix him. If Clank had been restrained or captured, he'd free him. If he needed anything at all, Ratchet would provide. Nothing was going to get in the way this time, not an malfunctioning Eye or a bloodthirsty syndicate of female soldiers. The door moved out of the way as Ratchet slid himself past the walls of metal before they had even fully retracted, finding himself running right into Cassiopeia in the centre of the room.

"Hold it, _Cassy_!" Ratchet taunted. "You're not flying away this time."  
"Oh, on the contrary, my fuzzy friend," she spat back at him. "I was hoping I'd get the chance to end you myself."  
"Where's Azimuth?"  
"Oh, he's a bit pre-occupied with a handful of death squads at the moment. But he doesn't concern me. _You're_ the real prize."  
"Still sore about me blowing up your friends, huh?"  
"Ha! Such bravado! All the more reason to make sure that what you did to them isn't as painful as what's going to happen to you!"

At her words, the entire chamber vibrated beneath Ratchet's feet. The floor started to rise, revealing the room's true purpose as an elevator to the very top of the Citadel. It was probably intended as a way to cut him off from outside support, from Azimuth, but it still wasn't going to stop him. Cassiopeia could try everything in the book and all it would do would delay him from finding Clank.

"I'm actually happy you survived the training course," the Valkyrie admitted. "It would have been a shame to lose such a worthy opponent to some cheap machine!"  
"Flattered," Ratchet answered with a defiant glare in his eyes. "Speaking of cheap machines, how much is your boyfriend paying you to do his dirty work?"  
"Ah, quick tongue," the Valkyrie cooed, her voice in a mock tone of seduction to get under his fur. "And an amusing observation coming from some _orphan_ doomed to spend his entire life alone! Hahaha!"  
"You don't know what you're talking about!"  
"I don't?" she asked with a tilt of her head, suddenly appearing elated as if something had finally clicked for her. "Oh, you don't know! How _delicious_." The smug attitude rubbed her opponent the wrong way quite severely.

"Out with it!" Ratchet yelled, brandishing his Constructo Pistol and aiming right at the Valkyrie's chest. She could only laugh in response, relishing the fact she had exposed a weak spot in the defiant rat's defences. Now to break them even further.  
"You didn't know that little robot of yours was ready to kick up his little metal feet and stay in the Great Clock forever?"

Ratchet's angry face faded in mere moments.  
"What...?" he murmured, his aim faltering and lowering away from her.  
"Yeah! He wants to _leave_ you, didn't you know that?!" Cassiopeia howled, finding that dejected look worth all of the destruction he had unleashed on her Valkyries. It was no fun crushing opponents if you didn't crush their spirits first. "And he didn't even have the guts to tell you himself! Ahahahaha!"

"Y-You're lying!" Ratchet snarled, raising his gun and clutching the handle so hard it was shaking with an audible rattle. It was ridiculous, _ludicrous_ even. It had to be some sort of trick. Clank _wouldn't_ just up and leave him like that, he just wouldn't. It was a ploy, to try and play on his fears before they fought. It wasn't going to work.  
"Stop flapping your lips and _tell me where he is_!" the Lombax yelled.

"Ah, _there's_ the fury I was hoping for!" the mad woman grinned. "All the more satisfying to extinguish when I destroy you!"  
"Oh, you're gonna regret this..." Ratchet growled, baring his teeth with a finger ready on the trigger.  
"No need to worry, my furry little nuisance," Cassiopeia pouted. "I'll kill the both of you before he gets the chance!"

As she finished talking, the elevator suddenly halted with a jerking motion that caused Ratchet to stumble. They were now outside, poised at the very top of the Valkyrie Citadel in the clouds. A storm had descended, lashing his face and suit with high velocity bullets of rain, but the movement of Cassiopeia's arm to gesture off to her side distracted him from it. His eyes followed, landing on a cylindrical container that suddenly opened itself up like a storage unit as if to display something. And in the middle of it, hovering in a suspended animation field, was Clank.

"_Clank!_" Ratchet screamed, instinctively reaching an arm out as if to try and grab him. He didn't appear outwardly or obviously damaged, but who knew what Nefarious and his goons had done in the meantime. It hurt to see it. Clank was literally metres away, in person, tangible and _real_. But he was deactivated, maybe hurt or worse. If he could only just get there...  
"What have you done to him?!"  
"Oh, nothing!" Cassiopeia snickered. "Compared to what I'm about to do to you!"

The fight that followed was brutal. Cassiopeia's fondness for acid weaponry while remaining on her platform kept Ratchet's attention split between her efforts in the air and where he was planting his feet with every dodge and step. His ears could pick up on the characteristic hissing noise of the chemical eating through whatever it touched, hoping that the foul smell from the corrosive reactions weren't mixed in with the scent of burnt fur. But he persevered, launching Mag-Nets, launcher fire and anything he had to make sure she stayed as far away from Clank as possible. If she so much as touched a finger to his metal casing...

Ratchet back flipped out of the way of Cassiopeia's cannons, counter-attacking with the Rift Ripper in order to try and hold her in place. 'Fred' appeared out of the portal with a trademark gurgling rumble, green tentacles wrapping themselves around the machinery of the Valkyrie's craft and making her a sitting duck.  
"Argh! Vile creature!" Cassiopeia spat, forcing her hands rapidly against the controls in some effort to get herself free.  
"Takes one to know one, _Cassy_," Ratchet replied, twirling the barrel of his Constructo Pistol to aim right at a weak spot on her platform, a poorly maintained seal in the metal work that exposed the fuel and electrical lines. "Eat up, Fred!"

'Fred' obliged with a low growl, the portal to his dimension snapping shut with a large burst of energy to knock Cassiopeia off balance. As she shrieked in frustration from her dizziness, Ratchet closed one of his eyes to steady his aim and squeezed the trigger of his Pistol. The round soared through the air with a resonating zip, the Lombax holding his breath in a hope that he was as good a shot as he thought he was to pull this off.

He got lucky. With a burst of flames from around her feet, Cassiopeia was suddenly launched sideways into a spiralling twist, the engines of her craft combusting underneath her and spinning out of control.  
"No! No, curse you filthy r-ARRGHH!"

With another failure of the propulsion systems, the Valkyrie was left clinging for dear life when her platform's acceleration suddenly maxed out and careened her over the edge of the footholds atop the Citadel. Unfortunately, her trajectory sent her sailing right into the last place Ratchet wanted her to go.

The Lombax gasped sharply as Cassiopeia smashed into Clank's storage unit, shattering the glass into sharp fragments and sending the small robot sailing out into the open air with nearly as much force as she had. His eyes went wide, watching the Valkyrie screech in horror as her craft finally gave out, plummeting out of sight and disappearing into the dark clouds that surrounded them. And Clank was starting to follow her.

He didn't even consider the danger, precautions be damned. In an instant, Ratchet had flung himself over the edge, streamlining his body to catch up to his tumbling friend before they both ended up meeting the ground in the worst way possible. As his partner's body spun helplessly in the chaotic winds of the storm, he strained his voice with how loud he had to yell. He pleaded, begged that the robot would be able to hear him.  
"Clank! _WAKE UP!_"

To Ratchet's eternal relief, Clank responded. The green glow of his eyes briefly shone through the grey shades and shapes of the clouds, giving the Lombax the necessary beacon he needed to follow their fall. But those eyes were only partially open and the robot's body was still limp in the air as though he hadn't gone through a total boot up.

_'I'm not fast enough! I can't catch him!'_ Ratchet thought. He only knew one way that he could be, a way that would be considered stupid in any other situation. He twitched his heels and activated the thrusters on his hoverboots, propelling him downward even faster than before to the point his face hurt from the chilled air slamming into him. Clank was still falling over himself, dangerously unaware of any obstacles coming up to meet him.

_'I have to make it!' _Ratchet swore, adjusting his trajectory to aim towards the curved surface of one of the Citadel's lower tower walls. If he was able to time this right, he could use the building as a ramp to snatch Clank right out of the air. But the window to do so was tight. If he made even the slightest hesitation, the slightest wrong angle, then they'd miss each other. And then both of them were goners.

Just like before, he didn't even think. He couldn't, no room for doubt or they were both dead. He flew down towards the wall like a bullet, feeling the exhaust of his boots cause resistance against his feet as he was now on the home stretch to make the jump. He wanted to brace himself, to close his eyes as though he couldn't bear to watch the end result. But he braved the stinging lashing of rain against his face to ensure he didn't fail.

Ratchet kicked off the wall and flew in an arc forward, stretching out one of his arms to catch his friend.  
"I got you! I got you!" he cried, his eyes meeting the robot's own as they came to meet each other. With a hard yank around the little synth, freezing metal chilled his hand and his torso as he pulled Clank towards himself in a tight embrace with just that one arm. Ratchet had done it. The two looked each other in the eye, even despite Clank's lethargy keeping him weighted and heavy in the Lombax's grasp. But Ratchet allowed himself the beginnings of the biggest smile of his life.

Clank was _here_. He was physically here, pressed against the damp outer layer of his suit. He could feel the subtle vibrations of the robot's internal workings against his fingertips, the contrast of hard synthetic material against his ribcage. For the first time in two years, in a moment that had felt like an impossible depressing dream all that time ago, they were together again. And it made his heart surge with elation.  
It was just a shame that such an elation was dampened near immediately when it became obvious that Ratchet had not considered how he was going to land.

Another set of buildings appeared out of the thick vale of fog like a brick wall, causing his eyes to widen in shock. He was going way too fast to brake, but he had nowhere else to land despite it. In an instinctive move, Ratchet pushed his legs forward and sprung the pair of them off the wall, sailing down a little lower to a building on the opposite side where he did the same again. Essentially recoiling off each hard surface, he was relieved to see the much more organic island shapes of the lower Citadel come into view.

_'Almost there...!' _he encouraged himself, repeating his previous action and pushing his boots forward to act as air brakes. Grass and soil came up to meet him quicker than he had anticipated, his boots slamming into the surface and sending a ricochet of pain through his joints from the impact. He pushed even harder than before, digging his heels into the ground and creating a small, trailing crater in the process. He had almost reached the edge of the floating land mass before he finally, thankfully, came to a crawling stop.

Ratchet fell backwards, his harsh clawing grip on Clank loosening enough to allow the two of them to flop down next to each other in the moist grass. The Lombax's chest burned for air, his muscles screaming at him to stay still after what he had just pulled off. The adrenaline during their fall had kept it at bay to start with, but now "ouch" was the lightest way to put it.

He and Clank laid there, the gentle patting of rain against the robot's outer shell and the Lombax's strained panting the only noises to accompany them. It was Clank, just like through the Eye, that finally said something to stop the quiet. It felt a little off to go so long without words now they were back together for real.  
"Hello, Ratchet."  
"Hey, pal..." came the huffed reply, the Lombax turning his head to look at Clank in the eye. "How ya doin'...?"  
"Fine. You?"  
"Yeah... fantastic... I'm just... I'm just gonna lie here for while though, 'kay?"

As Ratchet looked back up towards the sky and the impossible height they had just plummeted from, miraculously not getting hurt in the process, Clank copied him. He smiled.

It was definitely earned.


	5. Differences

**Ratchet & Clank: Fractures In Time**

**5\. Differences**

Ratchet and Clank eventually found a lifeline to get them off the island. Azimuth had been scouting the entire Citadel for them in his ship after being unable to find them during his own venture inside, finally picking them up from where they'd landed to bring them back to Aphelion. The storm had subsided, the aura of the afternoon sun casting a much needed warming glow over their tired selves and the dripping wet fauna. The remaining Valkyries were in disarray, too busy trying to establish a new hierarchy now their three prime leaders were all gone. Either way, they wouldn't bother the trio any further.

Neither Ratchet or Clank had said a word during the short flight back, not until they had landed. Whether it was from their fatigue or because words were failing them like with the Eye, they couldn't say. Azimuth himself stayed quiet, knowing that this was a more personal moment that he didn't need to be interfering in. But he at least felt some satisfaction at it too. With Ratchet's friend safe, the Clock was the next logical step to take.

After the ship landed, Ratchet hopped out of the cockpit to sit on the vessel's nose, closing his eyes to savour the warming heat of the sun radiating off his fur. Clank joined him, sitting besides his Lombax partner and kicking his small feet idly off the side of the ship. Azimuth locked his cockpit and bowed respectfully, taking a few steps away from them to allow the youth and his synthetic some space. If it had been years, they had some catching up to do.

Ratchet opened his eyes after a few more minutes, flexing his shoulders to keep his aching muscles from seizing up.  
"So, um..." he started, staring at his hands resting between his legs. "This _is _you, right?"  
"It is, Ratchet," Clank confirmed.  
"Not a trick?"  
"No."  
"Not a hologram?"  
"No."  
"Not a Zoni hallucination?"  
"A what?"  
"Not an evil duplicate of you working for the bad guy?"  
"Ratchet..."  
"Right, sorry," he blurted out, suddenly going quiet again. His hands fidgeted against themselves, almost like he was a little anxious about what he wanted to say or do.

The two looked at the ground awkwardly for some time before Ratchet moved again. He raised his hands towards Clank, shuffling in position to better face his friend before he placed both his palms down on the robot's shoulders. Clank tilted his head curiously, unsure why Ratchet would do such a thing. Not until he felt the clenching of fingers and the face the Lombax had.

Ratchet was smiling. Bigger and brighter than Clank could recall in recent memory. He clung onto the mechanoid's outer shell with a hold stronger than even he thought he had, like he was trying to confirm to himself that Clank was real. Or that he was afraid he would disappear if he let go. Cassiopeia was wrong. Clank _wasn't _leaving him, he was back. And Ratchet felt that sense of joy building within him again.

Clank smiled softly at the Lombax, raising one of his own hands to gently hold onto Ratchet's wrist as a sign of solidarity. He was clearly emotional with the twitching of his brow threatening to break his composure. He was clearly tired from the faint outline of dark rings under his eyes only just visible through the fur. But he was still smiling all the same.

Even as much as the responsibilities of the Clock had to be considered now, Clank would be lying to himself if he didn't admit that he had missed Ratchet just as greatly.  
"It _is_ me, Ratchet," Clanked confirmed again.  
"Yeah," came the quiet reply. "I'm... really happy to see you, pal."  
"As am I to see you."

Satisfied that he had said what needed to be, Ratchet pulled his hands away and inhaled sharply, regaining his composure with a shake of his head. He'd promised himself he wouldn't lose it throughout this whole journey, definitely not in front of Clank or any actual person. And besides, what kind of student to a Lombax General would he be if he blubbed in front of Azimuth?

But, like all things, the seriousness of the situation soon had to take priority. Clank explained to both Ratchet and Azimuth that Lawrence had secretly followed him through the Great Clock, biding his time until the Orvus Chamber had been opened before immobilizing him. Even worse, Nefarious _already knew_ where the Clock was, which means that he would soon be leaving for it to claim as his own now the Chamber was unlocked. Ratchet also confirmed that he had done what Clank had asked of him, attempting to save Orvus from Nefarious in the past. But he had failed, a fact that caused the Lombax to slump a little. Things were truly stacking up against them.

"I'm sorry about your father, Clank" he apologised. "I should've stopped Nefarious sooner."  
"It is alright, Ratchet," Clank assured him, reaching up to touch the Lombax's arm. "Nefarious will pay for what he has done. The only thing that matters now is that we keep the Clock safe."  
"Well, don't worry," Azimuth interjected. The General had merely been stood listening, occasionally glancing at his pocket watch before he decided to add his input. "Once the past's been corrected, you'll have the full support of the Lombax Praetorian Guard. The Clock will be in good hands."

Ratchet nodded his head eagerly, turning towards Clank to assure the robot that they'd have all the backup they needed to. Even Nefarious and all his might wouldn't be able to stand up to the race that had vanquished the Cragmites, would he? But he found his enthusiasm faltering near immediately when Clank did not seem to agree. On the contrary, he seemed annoyed. Angry even.

"You do not understand, General," Clank declared. "Nefarious' intended use of the Clock would cause catastrophic ramifications across the universe."  
"So we simply beat him to the punch and use it before he does," Azimuth replied, his voice starting to growl a little. "What's the problem?"  
"That_ is_ the problem. Time cannot be changed. Using the Clock improperly could rip the very fabric of existence."  
"_Or_ it could save an entire race of Lombaxes who risked their lives to defend this galaxy!"  
"It is not worth the risk!" Clank exclaimed.  
"So that's why it has a master control switch?" Azimuth barked. "So only the mighty Zoni can manipulate time?"  
"Are you saying that you wish to find the Clock for your own means too?"  
"Don't you _dare_ compare me to that insane-!"  
"Stop!" Ratchet suddenly shouted, shutting both of the arguing parties up. They weren't going to get anywhere squabbling like this and the last thing he needed was their group breaking up over it.

Ratchet turned to Clank, trying to play devil's advocate for the sake of Azimuth's argument. After all, time travel _was_ possible. He'd done it himself.  
"Clank, you sent me through that rift to change the past and save Orvus, didn't you? So what if we-"  
"I did," the robot confirmed, turning his gaze to the ground again. "And I shouldn't have."  
"Huh?"  
"Ratchet, you've seen the temporal phenomena throughout the Breegus System, caused by Dr. Nefarious damaging the the Clock," he explained. "My father tasked me with repairing that damage, to maintain and protect time. But... in my weakness, I instead tried to use those phenomena and the Clock's power to change the past, despite Orvus telling me never to do that."

Orvus' words in the past came back to haunt Ratchet. The Zoni had implied the exact same thing when Nefarious had been demanding to use the Clock himself.

"_The Clock is not a time machine."_

The parallel between those two and Clank and Azimuth in the present was chillingly familiar. Only it was even more so with Azimuth taking the role of _Nefarious_ of all people.  
"But... but nothing changed, right? I mean, I couldn't save him," Ratchet asked, his voice much softer than before. Clank shook his head.  
"You weren't supposed to be in the past at all, Ratchet. The moment you crossed that portal, more damage spread across nearly half the galaxy. Entire planets regressed to primordial states, others even threatened to disappear."

Clank paused, sounding almost remorseful in tone. Even ashamed. It made Ratchet's chest feel tight at hearing his friend feel such genuine distress at it. Clank had never had to consider a family of his own before, yet alone their wishes. To know he'd betrayed that must've been awful.  
"We were only just able to repair it, but it has left the continuum stretched to breaking point and it was my fault. It's why we need to protect it. If anyone were to ever use the Clock itself to change the flow of time, then the universe would fracture."

Ratchet felt what little hope he had left to save his people evaporate at those last four words.  
_The universe would fracture. _  
Everything that made up _everything_ would collapse into nothing. How had he not seen it? The temporal vacuums of looped time, slowed time, reversing time, even the strange entity that had caused him and Qwark to crash on Quantos. They'd all been massive clues that something was wrong with time itself.

If just that short trip on Zanifar had helped cause those problems, then Azimuth's plan to use the Clock to reverse time back to the Lombax era could destroy everything. Ratchet jumped off of the ship, taking a few steps away to try to get his head around all of this. All these warnings, all these strange happenings. It was leading to the same thing that both Orvus and Clank had kept saying.

"_The Clock is not a time machine."_

"I don't believe this..." Azimuth grumbled. This wasn't right. It couldn't be. It was just a... a ruse. Yes, some attempt by the robot to prevent the Zoni's greatest secret from being used for its true purpose! It was little more than a vague threat of destruction and calamity, acting as scaremongering to keep the 'lesser' races away from the construct's power. And it made sense. Even if Clank was Ratchet's friend, the robot had been around the Zoni for years, influenced by them even before his kidnapping. Who was to say that they hadn't brainwashed him into repeating this nonsense?

The General turned his attention towards the younger Lombax to make sure that he was still on his side. He _had _to be on his side, after everything he had learned. Surely his friend's son knew this was the right thing to do?  
"Ratchet, think about it," Azimuth implored. "With that Clock, we can save everyone, we can make things _better_ for the entire galaxy. People like Nefarious will never be able to threaten anyone again!"  
"Ratchet, please!" Clank interrupted, jumping down off the ship as well. "Nothing we could ever want is worth risking the universe. I know you would want to do the right thing."

"I..." the Lombax started, not even wanting to turn around to face either of them. It felt like the decision on what to do had been left to him, caught between the polarising forces of his closest friend and the only other one of his kind left alive.  
"We can't just abandon them!" Azimuth yelled. "Not when we can save everyone!"  
"Remember the Dimensionator?" Clank gravely warned. "Some risks are not worth taking."

Azimuth had a point, he consistently had regarding everything he'd said about what the Clock could do. But it was Clank's words that ultimately rang more truly in Ratchet's head. This had the repeated signs of the Dimensionator and its eventual misuse written all over it, the promise of finding the Lombaxes being used again as a lure to pick the wrong choice. He decided to contrast Azimuth's argument, for the sake of fairness, although he wasn't expecting it to be received nearly as well as Clank had taken it.  
"Well... what if Clank's right?"

"What?!" Azimuth exclaimed, almost as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.  
"Listen, what _if _he is?" Ratchet emphasised, trying to make it clear he was just theorising as he turned around. "_If_ there's even a chance that it could destroy the universe, then the risk is just too great!"  
"Risk?" Azimuth repeated, taking a few steps towards Ratchet, gesturing with his hands to make him reconsider. "Risk is what makes us who we are! It defines us, allows us to change things that we never would be able to otherwise!"

The younger Lombax stared at the wet ground at his feet, finding himself no better off at making this choice. Neither of them would back down, but he didn't want to even contemplate driving either of them away. The two currently most important people in his life, locking horns and relying on him to take a side.  
"Ratchet," Azimuth pleaded, his voice quiet but with a threatening rumble to it that proved he was having to hold his frustration back hard. "Our kind is _lost_ without us. Think of how many that Clock can save... think of your parents."

Ratchet's family. In the end, it was the one thing that would decide whether the Clock was worth taking such a monumental gamble over. And the truth was, Ratchet _wanted_ to think of them. He wanted to know who they were, to meet the ones who had loved and raised him from infancy, to get back everything that had been taken from him now it was within his grasp. He wanted to defy Tachyon, to defy the universe's sense of humour in how it had treated him.

But he couldn't. No matter how many memories Azimuth shared with him or how many pictures he saw of his father, Ratchet just couldn't see them. He couldn't imagine them as real people, as beings who meant something to him after all this time. His parents had been mere spectres for nearly two decades and he had survived despite those sad circumstances. As much as it hurt him to admit it to himself, Azimuth was ultimately asking him to consider bringing back strangers. He closed his eyes, almost unable to look the General in the eye when he spoke.  
"I didn't know my parents."

Azimuth's face fell, his mouth hung open from the answer. He could only stare dumbfounded as Ratchet turned away from him and started to walk towards Aphelion.  
"Ratchet-"  
"I'm sorry," the younger Lombax said firmly, trying to end this conversation before it got any worse. "We need to stop Nefarious before he makes the same mistake we almost did."

Though Clank was internally relieved at Ratchet's decision, he also couldn't help but notice the elder Lombax look totally defeated as he walked by to catch up. The General's hands relaxed from curled up fists, simply staring after the other as he walked away towards his ship. Clank kept his distance, keeping a wide circle around Azimuth as he hurried his pace towards Aphelion. Maybe he had been too harsh as well.

Ratchet wasn't sure what was worse. The fact that he'd been made to chose one of his companions over the other or the fact that Azimuth hadn't said anything yet. The silence weighed heavy on him, prompting him to exhale harshly to keep himself in check. He expected a shouting rant like on Vorselon's ship, a tirade about them wasting their only chance to save their kind from Tachyon. But those words never came. It was unnerving.

"So, uh... you coming, General?" Ratchet finally asked. He wasn't sure how else to say it, though he knew that such a casual tone probably wasn't appropriate. Even if they now had their differences over the Clock, Azimuth was still an experienced warrior and Ratchet felt like they would need his skills to best Nefarious. More than anything, he didn't want to lose his company. Not when they had come so far in knowing each other. Not when Azimuth himself had said he wanted to be part of Ratchet's family instead of resurrecting his old one.

But his wants were obviously very different from Azimuth's own, proven so when the sound of rocket engines firing up finally made him turn around.  
"General...?" Ratchet repeated, just in time to see Azimuth's ship already turning around and rising into the sky. Without a single hint of hesitation, the craft aimed for space and shot away with so much speed that it was a speck in the distance in a matter of seconds.

Ratchet followed its path with his eyes until he could no longer see it, looking down at Clank with a sigh. The robot took a few steps closer to the Lombax, to show some kind of support given what had just happened.  
"You did the right thing, Ratchet," he eventually said. "I am... sorry if I upset him."  
"It's alright, pal," the Lombax shrugged with a limp smile. "He'll come around. He was just hoping the Clock was... something different."

He turned to reach Aphelion, struggling to hide his disappointment. He really hoped Azimuth _would _come around.

* * *

The only logical next step was to get to Nefarious' space station. Based on what Ratchet had already had to fight across numerous sectors, the doctor had a fleet of ships in a miniature armada and any one of them could transport him to the Clock. If they were going to pull this off, then they needed to come up with some sort of plan to destroy or disable that fleet and leave Nefarious stranded at his base. The ride to the station was on the other side of the sector, which at least give them some time to think. If nothing else, Nefarious would at least assume that his "Unnecessarily Evil Initiative" was still in action if the Valkyries hadn't contacted him yet. Hopefully.

Not long after they had taken off, Ratchet had needed a distraction and so launched into a frantic explanation of the last few years now his inhibitions of talking suddenly broke away. He explained everything that happened, from the months and months searching for clues on where Clank had been taken, to the pirates on Merdegraw and their curse, to finding the General and battling through Nefarious' forces. It sounded like quite the story.

Clank was humbled that his friend had gone through so much trouble for him, nodding and listening intently to every single detail that he could. Though he couldn't help but think there was another reason why the Lombax had suddenly started rambling. With Azimuth gone and with no mention of where he was going, Ratchet had been left alone. Maybe talking so much to his partner helped.

The Lombax eventually finished his tale, setting Aphelion's controls to auto-pilot and leaning back in his seat. Now that he had the chance, he found himself wanting to take the time to shut off for a little bit. Too much heavy stuff had gone down on Vapedia for his liking. Clank seemed to agree, moving himself back away from the ship's central display and settling himself into his own co-pilot position.

Though nothing had been said specifically, Ratchet felt much better like this. Just knowing Clank was there, even if they didn't talk much, was taking away a huge burden that had clung to him for nearly two years since the disappearance. The Lombax huffed through pursed lips as the low hum of Aphelion's engines threatened to conceal the quiet soundtrack coming from the radio.

"I see you have made some modifications to our ship," Clank noted, recognising some of the interior circuitry to be suspiciously Zoni-like. Snickering at the idea of it being 'their' ship, Ratchet nodded.  
"When we first came here, we had a run in with one of those rifts. The Zoni fixed her up and made her even better."  
"I will be sure to thank them for their efforts."  
_"On my behalf as well," _Aphelion suddenly interjected. _"I don't tend to be a fan of losing my wings."_  
"No, you don't," Ratchet agreed with a smile. "Man, it'll be nice to just have things get back to normal, huh?"

But Clank didn't answer. And Ratchet's smile soured. He'd said that to test the waters, to try and see whether there was any truth to Cassiopeia's words on Vapedia. His friend's hesitation in talking confirmed what he was dreading. There _was_ something to it. And it felt like ice had spiked in his chest.

After forcing Azimuth away, Clank was one of the few things keeping him relatively composed despite what had happened. Now even that composure was threatening to crumble, so soon after they had found each other. Ratchet didn't feel that keeping the concern concealed within would do him any good. He would just come out and say it and hope he was wrong.  
"That Cassiopeia said you were thinking about staying in the Clock."

Clank jolted upright, looking at Ratchet in surprise that he had known that. The Lombax was still looking straight forward, staring out into the void of space as the ship changed course slightly through the auto-pilot. The robot's head lowered somewhat.  
"Well... Orvus wished for me to inherit the Clock and take over his work. So, I-"  
"Will you?" Ratchet interrupted.

His voice didn't suggest that he was upset, but Clank could sense it in his body language. He was putting on a front, to try and be respective of his partner's wishes. He was just trying hard to maintain it because of what had happened with Azimuth.  
"I do not know," Clank finally replied. "We must stop Nefarious first."  
"Yeah. Right."

Ratchet was grateful that Clank's answer wasn't definitive and, of course, he would support what choice his partner went with. But inside, he felt worry brewing in his gut at what it could mean. It just seemed like a cruel twist, to have finally found Clank after so long, only to learn that... maybe he didn't want to come home. The Lombax's eyes switched between the multiple stars outside their cockpit walls.

No, _no_ heavy stuff. He'd literally _just_ told himself that. Clank's choice would come later, whatever that may be. And right now, just to be together again to take down an old foe was exciting. Even if it was to come to an end, Ratchet could at least pretend that he'd gotten his old life back for a while, reaching over a hand to pat and rub Clank on the shoulder.

Clank had recorded that Ratchet had touched him at least 14 times since they had left Vapedia, usually the same gesture on his arm joint throughout his story and the flight. The small mechanoid couldn't help but be curious as to such a thing, having no memory of the Lombax ever doing this before. It was almost like a newly formed habit.

"Is there something wrong with my casing, Ratchet?" he asked.  
"Your what?" the pilot replied.  
"You appear to be keen on checking the integrity of my structure."  
"Oh!" Ratchet blurted, darting his hand away as though the metal surface was on fire. "I was? Uh, sorry, I didn't mean to, uh, um-"  
"It is alright," came Clank's warm answer to cease his flubbing of words, approximating a smile for him. "In truth... I like it."  
Ratchet's smile returned as his hand relaxed, pressing into the shiny, cool material again with an idle rub of the joint. He agreed.

At that very moment, the two were broken out of their conversation with an incoming transmission alert. Ratchet blinked, pressing a few of the knobs and buttons around the display to open up the comm frequency.  
"Mega-hero to Ratchet, come in!"  
"Oh, great..." the Lombax groaned, rolling his eyes hard enough to nearly see the inside of his own head.

Clank blinked as he processed the voice.  
"Is that... Captain Qwark?"  
"Clank?" Qwark responded. "Well, I'll be Skrunch's uncle! Where'd you come from?"  
"There's no time to explain," Ratchet interrupted, not wanting to listen to one of Qwark's rambling speeches about how he'd graduated from 'super' to 'mega'. "We need to stop Nefarious from reaching the Clock. We're on our way to the station now, but you have to find a way to stall him."  
"Way ahead of you, Ratchet. In fact, I'm further undercover than I've ever been before! Ever... In fact, when we get home, let's never talk about this again."

The duo turned to look at each other, a mixture of both confusion and disgust crossing their faces. How on earth Qwark consistently got into situations where his dignity was at risk, they'd never know. It almost bordered on a talent by now. Clank decided to move on from such a... pleasant mental image of what it could mean.  
"We will meet you outside the station," he confirmed. "Ratchet and Clank out."

The robot shut off the transmission, readjusting himself in his seat.  
"It was fun to say that again," he confirmed, letting out a characteristic laugh that was near melodic to Ratchet's ears.  
"Glad to have you back, pal," he smirked, taking a hold of the flight controls again. "Aphelion, give me the wheel. We've got a Clock to save."  
The ship complied, allowing Ratchet to floor it almost immediately to reach the station as quick as they could. Like old times, indeed.


	6. Crash

**Ratchet & Clank: Fractures In Time**

**6\. Crash**

Things hadn't gone nearly as smoothly as Ratchet and Clank had hoped. After their rendezvous with Qwark, the Captain had devised up a typical elaborate plan to sneak into the station with disguises to use the facility's defence systems to atomise every ship in Nefarious' fleet. Though things had gotten off to a rocky start to begin with thanks to some truly _awful_ acting from "Nurse Shannon", Ratchet had used a holo-guise to pass off as Nefarious and use his elaborately named "Hypernova Defence Laser" to destroy the ships. It was actually kind of fun to be as obnoxious and maniacal as the doctor for a change, even if it made his throat hurt from all of the screaming.

But that was when things had gone rather disastrously wrong. The real Nefarious had discovered them shortly afterwards, enraged that they had tried to foil his plans with the Clock. Capturing the trio, he had gone on a rant about how he had been saved by the Fongoids, enslaved them all to discover the Clock, and eventually the culmination of all of his evil acts. He was going to use the Clock to change the course of history not just to reverse his own defeat, but every single villain who had been stopped throughout the past.

The implications were horrifying. If Nefarious was able to change time, then all of Ratchet and Clank's previous efforts would have all been for nought. Drek would succeed in building his planet and wiping out countless others. Bogon would be under siege from a horde of Protopets. Nefarious' old Biobliterator would run amok across the Galaxy. Vox's gladiatorial games would still hold hundreds captive.  
Tachyon would still be alive.

And yet now, strapped to an asteroid with Clank as part of a "super-ironic death scenario", Ratchet couldn't see how he could be stopped. The chunk of rock was hurtling through space, an artificial air bubble being the only thing that was keeping the Lombax conscious. Nefarious had said he provided them with one so they could feel the terror of their inevitable impact wherever they landed. Even for a villain who's previous efforts had been relatively melodramatic, this was a new level of sadism.

The only saving grace about it was that if this was going to be how it all ended, at least he'd go out with Clank. The culmination of years of effort had borne fruit so that he could at least prove the Valkyries wrong. He wouldn't spend the rest of his life alone. Mainly because, darkly humorous or not, his life wasn't going to carry on for much longer. He could only hope that Clank felt the same.

By some just-as-dark cosmic coincidence, the silhouette of a planet began to rise up in front of them as the asteroid started to feel hot against the Lombax's back. Clank would feel it too, letting out an exclamation as he felt the metal of his body start to radiate with heat from the entry forces of the atmosphere. Ratchet closed his eyes, not wanting to give Nefarious the satisfaction of knowing he'd panic as they drew closer.

Unlike how he expected, however, a sudden bright light started to obscure his vision, turning everything around him white. He felt lighter, like he was being spirited away or cocooned in some sort of force.

And then all went black.

* * *

"Ratchet! Ratchet, are you alright?! Please, wake up!"

Clank's voice was the first thing that came back to him. The sensation of touch soon followed, feeling hard ground against his back to poke at his spine from uneven terrain. It felt cold. Something else cold splashed on his face too. Wherever he was, it appeared to be raining. He groaned, forcing himself to open his eyes and try to sit up. Vision blurred and the world span, making him fall back down again with a groan.

"You know, if I'm dead, cold and rain isn't the best introduction to the afterlife..." Ratchet croaked, letting out a cough as he attempted to sit up. Resting on his elbows, he tried to open his eyes again. To his relief, he was greeted with the sight of Clank, knelt down by his side and frantically checking over him for any physical damage or ruptures to his suit. The robot's eyes blinked with the conclusion of his scan as he seemed to mimic his best impersonation of a sigh. He took a step back as Ratchet sat up fully.  
"I am relieved to know you're not hurt..." Clank admitted. "I thought that-"  
"Relax, pal, I'm fine," Ratchet assured him with a weak smile. "Though, I gotta say I'm not exactly sure how."

Now that he could make sense of his environment again, Ratchet saw that he and Clank were surrounded by the fragments of the asteroid they had been trapped on. That at least confirmed that this wasn't some grand hallucination in the last moments of his existence, but it didn't answer any questions as to how they also weren't in pieces too. At least, not until he raised one of his hands up to gently rub the bridge of his nose.

Electrical energy tingled through Ratchet's limbs, sparking around his fingers in patterns and circular auras that seemed almost ethereal. His brow creased in confusion.  
"What the-? What is this?" he asked, glancing toward Clank. The robot was covered in the same sort of energy, the overall look somewhat familiar to him, but he couldn't place his finger on where from. Clank provided an answer, as he was often prone to do.

"It appears the _Zoni _protected us during the crash," the mechanoid theorised, watching as the pulsing lights left both his and Ratchet's bodies to hover above them. Another flash of light revealed three such Zoni, hovering in place.  
_"He must not reach the Clock," _came the chorus of hive-minded voices, a tone that always sent shivers through Ratchet when he heard it. The Zoni then dissipated into energy streams, all of which promptly sailed towards Ratchet and the open Vessel that had been knocked loose from his inventory before popping inside.

Ratchet closed the lid on the Vessel, tapping his finger against the container's side with a slightly raised voice.  
"Thanks for the help, guys!" he cheerily said, though soon found himself on the receiving end of a harsh stare from Clank.  
"What is that?" the robot asked.  
"What?" Ratchet protested, storing the Vessel away. "I'll give 'em back."  
"Ratchet..."  
"Hey, your dad built the thing and gave it to the Fongoids. I'm just using it to... rescue 'em."  
"Oh... very well," Clank conceded with a shrug.

On to more pressing matters. Even having survived Nefarious' Asteroid Flinger 5000, neither Ratchet or Clank knew exactly where they had landed. Without Aphelion in communication range for a pick up, they also knew that they would need to find some other way out of this swampy dump. The rain beat down hard as the ground squished beneath Ratchet's feet, leaping over slippery rocks that jutted out of the flooded terrain to see if there was anything else around they could use.

"Ratchet, we do not have a lot of time," Clank warned from his connection to the Lombax's back. "Destroying the armada will not keep Nefarious away from the Clock for long."  
"I know!" Ratchet replied, grunting as he managed to just avoid getting spiked by a particularly sharp looking plant. "I'd be more surprised if it _wasn't _up to us. Come on, there's gotta be a ship somewhere on this backwater planet."

Further up ahead, it did seem like this planet once had some sort of civilisation. The remains of a dam or some sort of floodgate towered above them in the distance, having long since eroded away. Yet the faint traces of burn marks and black scorches on some of the stones hinted to Ratchet that it was not simply age that had caused that collapse. A battle had been fought here and it hadn't ended well. which unfortunately didn't do much to improve their chances of finding a ship.

The Lombax's suspicions were proven to be correct when they entered a clearing of what could have been the main plaza of a village in years past. Near the edge of an uneven piece of rock sat a lone Fongoid, a strange enough sight on its own given how he had only ever met Fongoids in settlement numbers before. The alien jumped to his feet when he caught sight of Ratchet and Clank, the Lombax letting his robot friend down onto the ground beside him.

"Well, praise Orvus! I have visitors!_ Ngah!_" came the outburst, the Fongoid's vocal tic sounding even more deranged than usual. "Have you come to hear about the historic Battle of Gimlick Valley? _Hngh!_"  
"Uh, well..." Ratchet started. "We're actually trying to stop an evil mastermind from-"  
"Splendid! _Hgh!_" the Fongoid interrupted, causing Ratchet to glance towards Clank with an annoyed look. The robot simply shrugged, gesturing that they should at least do the courtesy of hearing him out.

"It all started years ago, when I was just a child!" the Fongoid began. "Chief Zahn Gribnak was manning his post at the Erundai Outpost when suddenly, they were under siege by Agorian forces! _Nyah._ Desperate to protect our village, Gribnak led a team of under-trained, poorly-equipped soldiers into battle. _Ygh!_"  
Ratchet had heard the name of this Chief before, back on Quantos where Qwark had guessed he was some kind of hero.

"Sadly, victory would not be theirs. _Hghh!_" the local carried on, almost as if he himself thought it was obvious. "Chief Gribnak and his noble lot were captured, imprisoned, briefly pardoned, imprisoned again aaaaaand killed. The death of Zahn left us defenceless. Without him, Commander Argos laid waste to our village by destroying the Erundai Floodgate. _Myah_! It was a crushing defeat."

Ratchet looked at Clank again, raising a brow as if to silently ask "Seriously?". Clank had to somewhat agree. This poor Fongoid was clearly a little... off. Even more so if he was suggesting such a one-sided fight was historic outside of how to totally whitewash an opponent.  
"Oh, if only Zahn had been here to defend us against Argos! I guess ya can't change the past... _hngh_..."

It was at the lone Fongoid's words that Clank suddenly had a brainwave. A dangerous idea, but one that would be their only way off of the planet following the destruction of the Fongoid village and the departed Agorians. He reached up to tug at Ratchet's hand, causing the Lombax to look at down at him and take a few steps back from the crazed alien.  
"Huh? What's up, Clank?"  
"Ratchet, I believe I may have a way to help the Fongoids _and_ give us a ride!" he said in a hushed voice, looking around for any telltale signs that his idea could even work. He finally saw it.

A shaft of brilliant blue light, just on the other side of a stream of water, seemingly coming from nowhere. A distortion of temporal energy that had yet to have been repaired. A perfect ingredient to create a portal.  
"Head to that time rift," Clank instructed, pointing towards the cerulean field of energy and confusing Ratchet greatly.  
"A time rift? How-" he started, cutting himself off when he realised what his partner was trying to imply. "Clank. We can't do that."  
"We do not have the time to consider anything else. Getting a ship from the Battle is our only hope of reaching Nefarious."  
"But you said that even crossing that portal could cause a lot of damage across the galaxy!"  
"Do not worry, Ratchet," Clank assured him, raising a hand to keep things calm. "I have a plan."

Clank's head twitched a little bit as he opened up a communications channel. A heavily encrypted one thanks to its use of the quantum actuator installed within him. Totally secure and totally undetectable except for the two parties involved, it was perfect tool for contacting a certain Junior Caretaker.  
"Sigmund, come in."

"Sir?!" came a sudden screeching voice over the intercom. "Oh, thank the _Zoni_ you're alright! Where are you?!"  
"I am fine, Sigmund, what about the Clock?"  
"The facility's safe, sir, that butler guy just up and left after he took you."  
"Good. Can you run a trace on my signal?" Clank asked.  
"On it, sir... Morklon? What are you doing all the way out there?!"  
"There's little time to explain, Sigmund. I need you to stabilise a time portal into the Battle of Gimlick Valley."

Sigmund didn't respond straight away, not except for a noticeable clanking and juddering of metal that was a telltale sign the Junior Caretaker was nervous. Clank tried again, insistent in tone.  
"Please, Sigmund. I need your help."  
"... we talked about this, sir," Sigmund finally said back. "We _can't _use another portal, not after what happened last time! We'd end up risking another tear in the continuum!"  
"Sigmund, if we do not use a portal to escape this planet, then we will be unable to stop Dr. Nefarious from reaching the Clock. And if he does, then _all of reality _will be in danger."  
"But, sir... I don't... I dunno if I can-"  
"I believe in you Sigmund," Clank assured him, looking skyward. "I know you can fix it if something goes wrong. And I will do my best to keep past interference to a minimum before we seal the distortion."

A long few seconds went by before Sigmund finally answered Clank.  
"You know this is our last chance? Any other changes to time after this and we're done for."  
"I am aware," the robot said. "We won't let you down."  
"...alright. Accessing Breegus Almanac now, sir. Got it! Stabilizing time rift in three... two... one..."

Just as he finished speaking, the rift suddenly fluctuated and the outline of a circular portal flashed into being, just like on Zanifar. Ratchet stepped towards it, staring at this literal window into the past before Clank came up behind him.  
"Friend of yours?" he asked in reference to Sigmund.  
"He is, another Caretaker of the Clock."  
"He seems... energetic."  
"That is one way to put it."

Ratchet took one step forward, hesitating in jumping through straight away. As Clank jumped onto his back with a sudden addition of weight, the Lombax turned his head to look over his shoulder.  
"So, we're walking into the middle of another giant invasion," he commented. "Why do most of our problems end up being solved through lots of excessive firepower and violence?"  
"Perhaps because we are so good at using them?" Clank suggested. Ratchet smirked, twitching his wrist to brandish the Judicator as if to prove his point.  
"And I wouldn't have it any other way."

* * *

And so, through an effort against the titanic Agorian invasion that would put even most of the Battleplex's patrons in hospital from the intensity (or at least, that's how Ratchet saw it after all was over and done with), the duo charged into the Battle of Gimlick Valley, defeated the famed Commander Argos, and changed history. The actual events were a bit of blur, a constant flurry of explosions and cruiser fire and waves of Agorian soldiers, but Ratchet was just glad for it to be over. The things he did for ships...

Securing a deal with the now alive Chief Gribnak, Ratchet and Clank were just about to step back through the portal to the changed present in order to claim their reward of a ship to get back to Nefarious' station. Considering they were still around to think about it, the duo guessed that Sigmund had been able to hold things together back on the Clock somehow. Clank's trust had been well placed.

However, the last thing the Junior Caretaker said was still fresh in both of their minds. Once they stepped back to their time, there could be no further disruptions to the continuum. It had been damaged so much that even just _being_ in the past would be enough to shatter everything. All the more reason to put an end to the doctor's schemes for good.

Ratchet and Clank stepped through the rift, the fissure in time immediately sealing itself the moment that their feet touched solid ground. The entire valley had been completely transformed, bright sunshine and a thriving settlement where there used to be nothing but moss-covered ruins and flooding. Even if they weren't supposed to have done it, Ratchet couldn't help but feel a little bit of pride at what they'd managed to pull off, to make the lives of the Fongoids better by saving them in the past. He could see the attraction Azimuth had to the idea now.

Thinking about the General spoiled his mood a little. Ratchet hadn't heard a word from Azimuth ever since they had parted ways on Vapedia. He wondered what the other Lombax was doing right now. Maybe he was still trying to find the Clock, maybe he was thinking of going back to his old ways as a rebel thorn in Nefarious' side. Either way, the silence from his elder worried him. As he and Clank had left Morklon's atmosphere in the salvaged Agorian cruiser, Clank could tell his partner was thinking about something with his absent-minded expression.

"Are you alright, Ratchet?"  
"Huh?" he blinked, rolling his shoulders as if coming out of a trance. "Yeah, I'm fine."  
"Is something troubling you?"  
"No, not really. I guess I'm just... thinking about what the General's up to right now." Clank approximated a frown.  
"I am sure he is well."  
"Yeah, I hope so," he nodded, changing the subject. "What about you? You thought any more about what we'll do when this is over?"  
"It has not been a priority," the robot confirmed. "But I will know soon."  
"Oh. Alright."

Quiet hung in the air like a bad smell, making Ratchet shift about in his seat uneasily. Not knowing like this was making him agitated, and he felt bad that it was. It was selfish of him to demand such a thing from his friend so quickly for his own sake. After all, Clank had finally found a family of his own, a purpose to consider. The Lombax knew he shouldn't add to the already heavy weight such a decision carried with his own feelings, vowing to stand by whatever his partner wanted to do. Even if Clank chose to leave, he'd be fine.

_Just _fine.

* * *

Nefarious' station was covered in the debris and aftermath of the earlier efforts to destroy the armada. The Lombax even dared a slight whistle to himself as they landed, like he hadn't realised just how much carnage they had wrought with that laser. Still, if anyone deserved to have their hopes and dreams smashed into pieces, it was certainly the good doctor's. And that satisfied him to no end.

As the two of them stepped onto the outer asteroids of the station's orbit, Ratchet was relieved to see Aphelion still in one piece not too far away, syncing up his nav unit with her to let the ship know they had managed to return unscathed from their unplanned trip. Though quite a few choice words flashed up on the holographic display, the Lombax and robot knew she only was so blunt with them because she cared. Or, so they hoped. Having your only method of transport bear a grudge wasn't something they needed right now.

Stepping onto a platform that would transport them to the loading docks, Clank spotted a single ship in the distance approaching those very docks in an landing pattern. Just as he had suspected, the destruction of the fleet had not blown up everything Nefarious had, the robot certain that this new vessel belonged to Lawrence coming to pick up his employer.

"Ratchet, we must find a way down to the landing platform before that ship leaves for the Great Clock."  
"Way ahead of you, pal," he answered, twirling his wrench in his right hand in preparation for a jump. "We'll make sure to clean _his_ clock before he has a chance."  
"Oh, dear..."  
"Too cheesy?"  
"Incredibly so."

Bad puns aside, Ratchet wasted no time leaping off the higher ledge and used both Clank's propellers and his hoverboots to glide him down. Nefarious and Lawrence were preparing the ship for departure and it didn't seem like they had anticipated anyone else being here but themselves, hence the lax security. Ratchet shut his boots off just before he touched the ground to stay quiet, hoping to get the drop on them and give the madman the biggest shock of his life.

"That's far enough, Nefarious!" he yelled, causing the doctor to nearly jump out of his cybernetics. "Step away from the transport!"  
"You!" Nefarious spat, venom dripping in his voice. "How is this possible?! You should be DEAD!"  
Clank took a step forward, having a personal stake in this whole affair after what the villain did to his father.  
"On behalf of galactic authorities, we hereby charge you with wilful disruption of the space-time continuum," he demanded as Nefarious rubbed at his eyes in exasperation at being lectured by an inferior. "Shut down the transport and surrender quietly."

"Look at you," Nefarious grumbled, walking towards Clank with a look of disgust on his synthetic features. "Free for the first time in years,_ inches_ from your destiny and what do you do? Run right back to playing backpack to a _squishy._"  
Nefarious gestured his clawed hands as if to prove that Ratchet's organic nature made him sick to even contemplate before he turned back to Clank.  
"I used to think we were equals, that you could rise above what you are, rather than playing second fiddle to a near-extinct species!" the doctor mocked. "But I was wrong, little Caretaker. You're nothing but a pathetic _sidekick_!"  
"We should hang out sometime," Lawrence muttered from up ahead.

"That's it..." Ratchet growled, brandishing his wrench and aiming right at Nefarious' chest with a noticeable exposure of his teeth. "No one talks to Clank that way!"  
"Bite me, _organic_," Nefarious cursed through a grimace. Ratchet kept his tool pointed at Nefarious, leaning his head towards Clank to talk to him.

"Listen, pal," he started, his eyes still glaring at the synthetic doctor. "When this is over, I'll back whatever decision you make. But, before we get to that, how about one final hoorah so we can kick this guy's butt?"  
"Sounds good to me," Clank snickered, letting out a signature laugh and standing defiantly by Ratchet's side. Not as a sidekick, but an ally and a trusted friend. Something that made Nefarious roll his eyes.

"You know, when I'm finished killing you and the Clock is finally mine, I think I'll rewind time," he decided, jets on the underside of his feet kicking into gear as he hovered in the air above the two heroes. "So I can do it again. And _again_. AND AGAIN!"  
"You won't get ten feet inside it, Nefarious!" Ratchet shouted back.  
"Never underestimate a supervillain who has a grudge, Lombax! I've been waiting a looooong time for this!" the synth screamed, blasting over to the other side of his duo of nemeses. "Lawrence, fall back to the outer perimeter! Let no damage befall our ship!"  
"Falling back, sir. Happy fighting," same the butler's droll response.

And fight they did.

* * *

Just like with the Valkyries and Cassiopeia, Nefarious wasn't interested in playing fairly, though that was hardly surprising. Since the last time they fought, the doctor had obviously upgraded his body's abilities as a sheer wall of dark energy bombs, laser fire and rocket jets kept Ratchet consistently on his toes.

With Clank's help in giving him some extra momentum whenever he needed to jump, he was managing to avoid most of it, but the odd shot was getting through and only just being brushed off by the armour. He could feel the strain of some of his plating starting to fail, particularly around his chest where he'd been struck head on. But he pushed through it, reloading his Buzz Blades and firing off a handful of discs towards his target.

"It'll take more than that to stop me!" Nefarious taunted. "Lawrence! Initiate Hypernova Defence Laser!"  
"Aw, crap..." Ratchet cursed, seeing the same huge beam from the weapon they had used before shoot straight towards him. He engaged his hoverboots, speeding off down the ring of docking platforms with the laser in hot pursuit. The entire structure was shaking beneath him, Ratchet not daring to look behind in case he got an idea of just how close that thing was to scorching him.

"Lawrence! Increase output to _Maximum Annihilation_!"  
Nefarious' howling order suddenly changed the weapon's tactics. Now instead of the laser trailing behind the Lombax, it was now choosing to aim in _front_ of him, but with enough power to blast those sections of docking apart. With the path now fragmented, Ratchet boosted from one piece of debris to the next, his boots physically making contact with the shredded metal from how hard he was having to make these landings. He couldn't keep running like this forever, there had to be a way to take Nefarious down!

Just ahead of the laser's destruction, Ratchet saw a way out of this loop. Lawrence's ship was cruising up to meet Nefarious, the doctor having used the commotion of the laser's carnage to get ahead in the chase.  
"Clank! Give me a boost!" he called, the robot engaging his Heli-Pak rotors to help Ratchet get the velocity he needed to make the jump. He zoomed forward, timing his jump just right to get as much distance a possible, a trick the General had used back on Torren IV. It worked, and the pair of them tumbled to a halt on top of Nefarious' saucer as it began to speed away from the station. Time was running out.

"Argh, insolent little squishy!" Nefarious raged. "Do something, Lawrence!"  
"Yes, sir. Activating auto-pilot for a circular route."  
With that the command, though the ship was now trapped in orbit around the space station, it also left Lawrence free to engage the defensive systems. Another set of death traps engaged, laser fire, electricity fields and the shuddering of the ship as it turned and adjusted its course. Ratchet let out a groan, throwing one of his bombs towards Nefarious and managing to blind the doctor enough to take a breather.

"Are you alright, Ratchet?" Clank called from his back.  
"Yeah... just peachy..." he huffed, resting a hand on his chest. "But if I never see a laser again... it'll be too soon..."  
_"Alert. Error 473 Beta. Unable to disengage auto-pilot. Please reboot system and try again."_  
"Slight problem, sir," Lawrence announced through the intercom. "The auto-pilot appears to have malfunctioned."  
"_I'm in the middle of an epic battle to the death!_" Nefarious roared. "Figure it out!"  
"But, sir, we may be in a spot of trouble. I cannot alter the ship's flight path unless the auto-pilot is disengaged."

Nefarious ignored the error and doubled down on his duties of killing both of these twits instead.  
"Such a shame you never got to meet him, Clank!" he mocked. "Oh, you should have seen the look on Pop's face when he realised he wasn't there to talk science. So much for the great and powerful Orvus! Ahahahaha!"

Ratchet felt a vibration on his back, checking over his shoulder to see what was wrong. Clank had extended his arms, vibrating and shaking them in fists at what the doctor was saying.  
"You'll _pay _for what you did, Nefarious!" Clank yelled back, sounding the angriest that Ratchet had ever heard him in all the time they had known each other. And the robot made sure to live up to his threat.

Clank's arm threw itself backwards past Ratchet's ear, a glowing orb of blue light sailing through the air with a sharp crackle of power. Before Nefarious had even realised what was going on, the orb collided with him and suddenly expanded three times its size. Nefarious was enveloped in the light, his movements appearing to run in slow motion before he could scream out another rant of obscenities. Ratchet's mouth hung open in shock, both at Clank's response and what he was seeing. What was this?

"Ratchet, hurry! I can protect us from the effects, but you must strike before the energy dissipates!"  
His partner's urgency shook the Lombax out of his daze, nodding his head and jumping up towards the mid-air villain. The 'how' could wait for later, all that mattered now what ending this. With a twirl of his body and an almighty swing downwards of his arm, Ratchet's wrench connected with Nefarious' upper spine just as the Time Bomb vanished. The doctor screamed as he tumbled towards the hull of the ship, landing with an almighty bang hard enough to rock the vessel off course.

At that moment, Nefarious' body locked up, seizing and whirring as his systems started to overload. Opera music, sound bytes and stray transmissions all broadcast out of him like he had become nothing more than a giant speaker, the twitchy jerking movements and mechanical failures almost horrifying to witness. Even worse, the landing had altered the ship's trajectory enough that Ratchet could see they were now drifting towards the station. The middle of the station.

"Nefarious!" he yelled, running forward and grasping at the synthetic's head. "How do I disengage the auto-pilot?!"  
A rambling of more sound bytes and a frozen grimace were all that replied to him.  
"Aw, come on! Snap out of it!" the Lombax cried, striking the doctor around his face to send him spinning away in a daze. With a jerking of legs that resembled a dance and a disturbing power down of noise coming from his fractured head, Nefarious tumbled to the ground and went still.

"Okay, okay, no need to panic!" Ratchet insisted, turning around to meet Clank. "We just need to find Lawrence before he takes the-"  
A sudden blast of engine noise and heat firing in his face made Ratchet reconsider his words as Lawrence sailed off into the cosmos and out of sight over the edge of the ship's hull.  
"...escape pod," he finished, turning towards the station that was steadily getting bigger and bigger "I, uh... think we're on an intercept course, pal."  
"Intercept course...?" Clank asked nervously, looking in the same direction as Ratchet. "As in, 'crash into the station and explode' intercept course...?"  
"Uh... yeah."

"_Twenty seconds until impact. Please change course immediately."_

It was funny how life had a way of repeating itself. If they weren't going to go out in a blaze of an asteroid impact, it seemed like it was going to be from some other horrible collision instead. Ratchet swallowed. There was no way to get away from this one this time. The Zoni had expended their energy and needed time in the Vessel to recuperate and the last ride off the ship had sailed away with Nefarious' butler. Even worse, the comms didn't seem to be working because of the stray broadcasts from Nefarious' body, so Aphelion could once again not be reached.

"Clank," Ratchet murmured, his voice relatively calm as he knelt down to touch his friend's shoulder. "Since I won't get another chance to say this, it's... been one heck of a ride."  
Clank braved a sad smile. Another touch, but still one he treasured all the same. He lowered his head as he reached up one of his own hands to hold onto Ratchet's wrist. It seemed that now all they had to do was wait.  
Or at least, they would if a certain ship hadn't suddenly soared into view. A ship that was all too impressive in silhouette. And one that was distinctively Lombax.

Ratchet's eyes went wide, his mouth falling as the cockpit of that ship slid away to reveal its pilot.  
"Ratchet, come on!" Azimuth yelled over the cacophony of his own engines. "I have Aphelion on a tether course behind me, you're gonna have to jump!"  
The younger Lombax couldn't believe it. The General had come back. He's come back for him. Even despite their differences, despite the fact that Ratchet had turned him down regarding the Clock and they had left on bad terms, he still came back al the same. Azimuth had been true to his word of promising to not leave him from the day they first met and that alone was enough to cause a beaming smile to spread across his muzzle.

"_Ten seconds until impact."_

However, even despite the heart-warming thought, the announcement from the ship's flight computer snapped Ratchet back to the imminent danger of the exploding kind.  
"Come on!" he yelled, extending out a hand to Clank before he pulled his partner onto his back in compact form. He sprinted as hard as he could manage to the edge of the ship, Azimuth keeping himself focused on his own ship's wing so that the younger Lombax had something to leap towards.

"_Five. Four. Three. Two. One."_

Just before the countdown finished, Ratchet pushed himself off the hull, stretching out his arms in a grasping motion to try and cling to anything of the General's ship. His fingers barely managed to clasp around the front part of the wing, clinging to it for dear life as Azimuth hit the throttle to get them out of range. The Lombax didn't look behind him for fear a lack of concentration would make him slip off and float into the vacuum of space. All he could tell was that the combustion of the station would have been pretty spectacular to look at if the shock wave of debris sailing over his head from behind was any indication.

Remembering that Azimuth had set Aphelion into a towing flight to follow in from behind, Ratchet looked below him to see his ship coasting along at the same speed. He risked pressing a button on the inside of his nav unit, opening the cockpit remotely to fall down into it. As he let go from the General's vessel, he disengaged Clank from his back so that they could land in their respective seats, both letting out grunts from the rough descent before Aphelion's cockpit snapped shut.

The two of them went limp, Ratchet panting just as heavily as when he had used his boots in the Citadel. By this point, he was getting tired of always being so tired. But he at least had a chance to actually recover this time because they'd done it. Nefarious was all but destroyed, his schemes and station were in ruins and the Clock had been saved from any further tampering like Sigmund had wanted. All in all, the day had been quite a success.

"Looks like we did it..." Ratchet huffed.  
"And with the same style as ever," Clank remarked, forcing a tired chuckle from the Lombax. Aphelion's display beeped showing an incoming transmission from Azimuth's ship, which the younger of the two Lombaxes accepted.  
"Cutting it close, weren't we?" the General remarked, his face appearing on the screen with a raised brow and a sly grin.  
"Hey, you did too!" Ratchet argued. "Are last minute saves just the sort of thing we do?" he asked, referring to their species.  
"Something like that. But I figured you'd be leading an assault on Nefarious sooner or later, so it's a good thing I arrived when I did."  
"It's much appreciated, General."  
Azimuth nodded, though his expression turned a little bit more serious when he spoke up again.  
"I'll take point and tow your ship so you have a chance to rest after all of that. Only question is where I'm taking you."

Ratchet sat up in his seat, looking towards Clank. The robot wasn't looking his way, instead staring at the space between his feet in deep thought about something. What that something was was easy to guess. The Lombax turned to better face his partner. This was the moment of truth. The answer to a question that Ratchet had dreaded hearing ever since that Valkyrie witch had mentioned it. Was this where they went home together or went to their own homes alone?

"Clank...?" he said softly, trying to get the robot's attention. "It's, uh... your call."  
"I know," he answered, taking a few more moments before he raised his head to address Azimuth directly. "General. I am uploading a set of coordinates. Though I ask that you do not retain them nor share them once we're there. You... understand, of course?"

Azimuth blinked, distracted by the sent data for a second. His eyes widened for the briefest of moments, concealing whatever emotion had just run through him as quickly as he could.  
"Understood," he said simply, before the line went dead.

Ratchet caught that look. He couldn't tell what it was for certain, but something seemed... wrong about that face. The General knew the significance of those coordinates and what they would lead to. But he couldn't dwell on it on it now. He leaned back in his seat as an awkward silence nearly overwhelmed the cockpit from how strong it was. The question was answered.

Clank was going home.


	7. Six

**Ratchet & Clank: Fractures In Time**

**7\. Six**

Following Clank's instructions, Azimuth towed Aphelion and her passengers through the hidden vale of the Breegus Nebula and towards the site of the Great Clock. As the clouds of dust and forming stars passed by them, the architecture of the machine sprawled out in numerous connecting rings and moving parts, streams of temporal energy shooting through the depths of the giant construct in arcs as though they were bits of data being processed by a computer.

The approach path was slow, almost as if the General was giving himself and his companions a chance to admire the craftsmanship of such a device. Even Ratchet had to admit that Orvus certainly hadn't cut any corners in creating this thing, though he supposed one couldn't if it was designed to affect the whole universe.

But as wondrous as the Clock was to see in person, Ratchet had little to find wonder in at the moment. He had just been staring off into space for the whole journey, saying very little if anything at all. Clank had been much the same, the two of them keeping to themselves in some way. Not because they'd fallen out or because the decision had caused any bad blood between them. It was more because some internal part of themselves knew the more they talked and treated each other as always had, the harder it was going to be when it all came to an end.

Clank directed Azimuth and Aphelion to set themselves down on two outer landing pads in Sector Five of the Clock, usually used by the time keepers or internal automated shuttles to send different replacement parts around. From here, it was a straight path to the Orvus Chamber down a walkway, a request of Clank's to be dropped off here so that he could finish seeing the end of a message left for him by his father.

As the three of them exited their respective spacecrafts, Azimuth stared around him in total amazement. The Great Clock of legend was _real_. He was stood _inside_ it, after all these long years of hoping and wishing for this very moment. He couldn't help but smile, watching the keepers and automatic processes flurrying around the different levels and sectors as entire sections of the Clock rotated and ticked above his head. The whole thing was like a giant watch in and of itself, prompting Azimuth to briefly glance as his own held tight in his hand.  
_"I made it, Kaden,"_ he thought. _"It's all real, just like you said it would be."_

Ratchet and Clank walked past the in-awe General, coming to a stop just before the walkway that would take them into the Orvus Chamber. To the Lombax, he was staring directly into the heart of the thing that was taking Clank away from him, not even days after they they had only just come back together. It wasn't fair, like all the years he had been searching and wishing for a reunion were all inevitably for nothing.

Yet he knew he shouldn't think that. Clank had discovered something about himself that was important to him, something that allowed him to rise to a destiny that had been expected of him ever since Orvus created his soul. Ratchet truly did feel happy that his partner had met his family and was accepting such an important task as governing time for the sake of everyone else. And how could he stop that? Back when he had been given the chance the join the Lombaxes years ago, he knew that Clank had been ready to support whatever choice he made too.

So then... why did it still hurt so much? His head knew this wasn't his choice to make, it knew that Clank was his own person and was free to make the decision on his own. And yet, the Lombax's heart protested. It was throbbing behind his ribs from just the idea of having to go back to being in Aphelion alone, to go back to missing the robot's presence and his laughter. That laughter that had remained the same after all this time. Ratchet couldn't hold it in any longer.  
"Clank, wait."

Clank stopped mid-step, turning around to face his friend. Ratchet was fidgeting with his gloves, his sign of being anxious about what the next few moments were going to bring. He stammered over his words, his voice quiet and unsure in a manner that Clank thought unusual. It felt wrong to listen to.  
"I... I want to... I-I mean, what I'm trying to say is..." Ratchet sighed, his arms going limp at his sides. It was futile. "I can't talk you out of this, can I?"

The robot's head lowered to the ground for a moment. This was a lot harder than he had imagined too, even for a synthetic like himself. He tried to bring his usual rationality to it, but he didn't know how convincing he could be with it. It was all he could think to do.  
"Ratchet... we have been on many adventures together, and I wouldn't trade them for anything. But the Clock needs someone to protect it."  
"But is it _really_ what you want...?" Ratchet asked, taking a step forward as if there was some vague hope that Clank would reconsider. But Clank shook his head softly.  
"It is... what I was built for."

An awkward silence stopped them again, another thing Ratchet was starting to get sick of. Neither of them looked at each other in the eye for a long while, not until the sound of motor servos caught Ratchet's attention. Clank had held up one of his hands, extending it outward as if to offer his old friend a handshake. A parting gift and the best that he could think to muster.  
"Like you said," Clank repeated, trying to force a smile. "It _has_ been one heck of a ride."

Ratchet couldn't take it any more. Dancing around the subject, trying to make it as formal and unemotional as possible to make it easier for both of them. It was an insult to their connection, to their history. And so he didn't try. As Clank extended out his hand, Ratchet knelt down to his level, staring right into those luminescent emerald eyes that matched his own before he reached out with both of his arms. In a smooth motion, the Lombax grasped around Clank's smaller body, lifting him up off the floor and pulling him close to his chest in a near death grip of an embrace.

Clank was astounded, feeling Ratchet's hands trembling around his outer shell as the fingertips clung to anything like he was afraid of what would happen if he let go. He felt the Lombax's breath shake as he exhaled, his eyes screwing shut to try and at least stop himself becoming too much of a wreck. But as hard as he fought, he couldn't stop it this time, feeling hot tears run down his cheek as the "barrier" briefly broke down. Clank's own emotional processes couldn't hold back either. He reacted to it, resting his own hands around Ratchet's shoulders to return the hug as best as his tiny limbs could manage in the hope that it would be of some comfort.

For what felt like minutes, the two of them remained locked together, Ratchet slipping down onto both his knees proper as he struggled to keep himself in check. He sniffed, blinking rapidly as if to try and force his tears back in as he regretfully, eventually, relented and set Clank down. The robot simply looked back up at Ratchet, the Lombax's hands still resting on his shoulders. He smirked a little, even despite being clearly upset.

"Heh... look at the state of me, huh?" he tried to joke, a smile still firm on his lips as he eventually stood back up with a rub of his eyes. "For the record... you were never a sidekick. You do know that, right?"  
Clank tilted his head in sympathy with a weak smirk. If he had the ability to cry, he was certain he would be the same way.  
"I always thought that _you_ were the sidekick," he joked.

Ratchet shook his head with a weak laugh, trying to put the restraint back on his emotions once more before he spoke again.  
"I'll, um... see you inside. If you want."  
Clank nodded. "I would like that."  
As Ratchet stood back up, he looked towards Azimuth, who had been waiting patiently some metres away in order to give the two their needed privacy. He cleared his throat, trying to get back to some sort of normalcy.  
"General," he croaked. "I'm gonna make sure he's in and then we'll head out."

Strangely, Azimuth seemed puzzled by that decision, looking up when his name was mentioned and lowering his brow.  
"Wait... that's it? We're just leaving?"  
"Yeah. We are."  
"But, Ratchet..." the General started, gesturing around him urgently. "Do you realise where we're standing right now?"  
"I do," the younger Lombax said, his face blank. "And we need to leave it alone."  
"How can we? What about the Lombaxes?"  
"They're not in danger, Azimuth, they've just... moved on. And we'll find them someday, somehow," Ratchet assured his elder. "But the past _stays_ where it is." he finished, taking on much firmer tone.  
"Surely you can't be-" Azimuth tried to argue.  
"I am. And that's that," Ratchet interrupted, his eyes still stinging with tears at what this pointless argument was delaying. He turned around, weakly gesturing to Clank with a hand. "Come on, pal. I'll walk you in."

As Ratchet began to leave, something began to stir deep within Azimuth. Once again being forced to feel that same rejection, that same near humiliating dismissal of his desires to use the Clock... and by one of his _own kind_, no less. How could Ratchet still continue to be so short sighted? How could he not understand that this would give him his family back, give him back the people who were forced to abandon him?

It was frustrating. Even downright _insulting_ to even think about for the youth to dismiss his heritage, his race's history. Staring at the back of Ratchet's head, Azimuth raised his voice.  
"Where are you going?" he demanded, the grip on his wrench tightening. "This is our responsibility, Ratchet. You can't just walk away!"

The younger Lombax didn't even slow down or acknowledge him as he spoke. The General yelled, pleading with his counterpart to reconsider.  
"The Lombaxes need us!"  
Once again, Ratchet didn't act as though Azimuth was even there. He knew that this was a sore subject for the General, but he also knew that another change to time couldn't be risked. And that was when something started to break inside Azimuth.

All the years of regret, of longing to change his mistakes, mere feet away from being worth something... yet here he was, stood on the precipice of realising that dream and being denied by someone he thought was on his side. His best friend's own flesh and blood, his _son_, rebelling against trying to save his own people! The General bore his teeth, feeling the rage begin to burn inside him at the sheer _disrespect_ from the boy for not even looking his way.

"_Don't_ walk away from me!" he ordered. And yet still, Ratchet kept walking. Whether it was out of shame or because he truly had switched sides, it didn't matter. For someone so young and inexperienced, so _unlike_ his bloodline, to treat him with the same regard as the dirt on his shoe wouldn't stand. Not when he was so close to bringing the Lombaxes home. Azimuth exploded.  
"I. SAID. _STOP!_"

The General threw his arm forward and his wrench activated, a bolt of negative energy coalescing into being and firing at near bullet speed forwards. Its intended target only just heard it sparking through the air as it moved, turning his head over his shoulder for just a moment. And as his eyes met Azimuth's, eyes that burned with hatred and mania after decades of laying dormant within, Ratchet took the hit.

The charge slammed into the Lombax's chest hard enough to knock him off his feet, sending him flailing backwards as his eyes and mouth were forced open in shock. The pressure from the wrench's power, the force of that mighty blow, bent and crushed what remaining structural strength his armour had around his chest. And it kept going. Ratchet felt everything it touched, like his insides were being torn to shreds as the wind was knocked out of him, his heart noticeably skipping a beat from the voltage of the blast.

He stumbled backwards, clutching at his torso as he strained everything he had to take a breath inward. He only barely managed it, a hoarse croaking gasping out of him like a death rattle as he tried to push himself up onto his feet. He could feel the wound through the destroyed front of his suit, crimson blood oozing through the material and copiously dripping to the ground between his clutched fingers. He coughed violently, a spray of red splattering onto the surface of the landing pad to join the puddle already forming, barely possessing the strength to look at his attacker. Azimuth just stood there. Defiant, justified in what he'd done. And it crushed Ratchet's heart even beyond physical means.

The world began to go blurry, fatigue setting into his limbs. He felt light-headed, like he could no longer focus on what was going on. He stumbled back, threatening to teeter off the edge of the platform and he couldn't stop himself. Fear coursed through his failing heart. It hurt. He knew what it meant. And yet even then, despite the very real possibility of his time running out, all Ratchet could think about was his friend. His partner, the only _real_ family he had ever known. All he could think to do, to _try_ and say, was for Clank to remain unharmed.  
"Don't... hurt him... don't..."

Clank had been frozen in terror at what had transpired. He had seen Azimuth strike, he had seen the damage it inflicted. And he could sense through his scans that Ratchet's body was shutting down. The robot stumbled to his feet, sprinting towards his failing companion as fast as his could strain his motors to move. But Ratchet was going limp, his eyes starting to close despite how hard he was trying to keep them open.  
"No...!" gasped Clank, wishing with all of his Zoni soul that he could make it. He could save Ratchet, he _could_, just like Ratchet had saved him. He _had_ to make it, he begged _anything_ that he could make it.

But he didn't. As the small robot tried to jump for Ratchet's hand when the Lombax finally started to keel over backwards, the pool of blood that had formed between his feet caused Clank to slip, only barely able to touch the Lombax's fingers before he fell into the red puddle and stained his outer shell. Clank could only watch in utter horror as Ratchet's twisted body slipped over the edge and into the very depths of the Clock's inner workings, a trail of negative energy from the weapon responsible following him down. Clank thrust out a hand in vain, like he'd be able to stop the Lombax before he disappeared completely.  
"_RATCHET!_"

But he was too late. Ratchet was gone.

Ratchet was dead.

The three words echoed within Clank's head like a mantra of madness, the robot staring down at his now bloodstained hands in total disbelief. No. No, this couldn't be real. It _wasn't_ real. It had to be some sort of malfunction, a virus or another mnemonic station he'd been thrown into, even forced sensory data from being captured and tortured elsewhere. There _couldn't_ be a world where Ratchet was gone. But the heat of the crimson blood underneath him kept screaming the obvious truth.

Ratchet was _dead_.

And he'd been so _stupid_, so _ignorant_ of Ratchet's feelings throughout all of this. So consumed with the idea of living up to his father's expectations that he never thought to consider his best friend's own. Even worse, the very implication that Ratchet had been overwhelmed with the worst thought possible before the end was enough to make Clank wish he could vomit. The idea that Ratchet fell into oblivion thinking that his best friend had abandoned him and his mentor had betrayed him.  
Clank forced his arms to push him up, turning around to stare at the one responsible for his best friend's murder.  
"What have you done...?" he nearly whispered.

Azimuth simply glared back at Clank, pulling his wrench back down to his side. His face was a mixture of feelings, a twisted amalgamation of being horrified by what he had just committed and yet utterly convinced that he had been right to do it. The elder Lombax pointed at Clank accusingly, trying to shift the blame elsewhere.

"This is all _his _fault! He left me no choice!" he yelled. The small robot stood, his eyes narrowing into the most furious stare that he'd ever made.  
"You _always_ have a choice!" Clank shouted, thrusting out one of his hands as the signature blue hue of quantum energy gathered towards him to fuse into the shape of the Chronoscepter. Brandishing his tool as a weapon provoked Azimuth, the crazed Lombax bringing his arm back before swinging his wrench and firing another blast towards his new target.

Clank stood his ground, pulling back the Chronoscepter and timing his own swing just right to hit the discharge with the larger end. The time manipulation sent the attack sailing back towards Azimuth, the General only barely managing to duck out of the way before it struck him between the eyes. He growled in anger.  
"Stay out my way, Clank!" he snarled, kicking his hoverboots into gear. "I don't want to kill you, _but I will if I have to!_"

With that, Azimuth blasted away down the path to the Orvus Chamber, making his intentions clear. Even despite the horror and the crippling negativity that threatened to overwhelm the small mechanoid's emotional processes, Clank overwrote them as best he could to break into a sprint after the General. He had to stop him from reaching the Chamber, stop him from destroying more than just a life. He opened a communication channel, desperately hoping that he would get a response.  
"Sigmund!" he cried. "Please, help me! Sector Five!"

Azimuth looked behind him, sensing that Clank would inevitably try to pursue him. He grunted in annoyance as he was made to stop his progress, spinning around on his boots and sending another few energy blasts from his spinning weapon towards the Caretaker. Clank didn't even flinch, swinging his Chronoscepter to deflect and reverse every single one that came near him as though they weren't even worth considering a threat. And to him, they didn't. All that mattered was reaching the Chamber before Azimuth, even despite knowing that he was outmatched and outgunned with firepower. He just had to keep moving.

"Ngah! Out of my way, Caretaker!"  
Azimuth's demand caused Clank to look up as he ran, seeing that the Lombax was being held at bay by Sigmund. The Junior Caretaker was swirling around the General, trying to restrain his hands and do anything to stop him getting ahead of Clank.  
"Sir, he's headed for the Chamber! You have to stop him!"  
"You can't!" Azimuth roared, his eyes wide and murderous as Clank was threatening to overtake him. "_Nothing's_ going to stop me!"

Sigmund tried his best to distract Azimuth, yanking the elder's arms behind him in an attempt to make him let go of his weapon, but was ultimately not strong enough to overpower the military trained General. Azimuth broke free with a wrench of his arms, boosting himself on his boots a little ways further ahead with the Junior Caretaker in hot pursuit.  
"Oh, Sigmund, what are you doing?!" the robot chastised himself. "He's a scary demon Lombax and you're armed with a _planter!_"

Clank just kept running. It was the only thing he could do, for the sake of everyone and everything, he just ran and ran. He could barely make out Azimuth's cries of fury as Sigmund held him back, the low hum of electricity sailing through the air around him as the General kept firing in an attempt to claim a second victim. He just had to run, he had to beat Azimuth. He _had_ to.

"You're doing it sir! Just keep going! _Lock the door!_"  
"NO! Get away from the Chamber!"  
Clank finally crossed the threshold to the Chamber, frantically searching around the inside of the door to find some sort of locking mechanism as the noises of the fight outside finally reached him.  
"Miserable, heartless, _soulless_ little robot!"

Clank heard another energy discharge explode from Azimuth's wrench as he looked around wildly for the switch, hearing Sigmund scream in what could be presumed to be the blast hitting him. Fear spiked within Clank, knowing that he had nothing to fight off the Lombax with unless he found the button. He reached over a panel to one, hoping that it was correct before he slammed his hand into it.

The door to the Chamber suddenly crashed down into the floor, sealing itself off with the sound of hydraulic and quantum-powered locks engaging one after another. Though Azimuth had finally caught up, he found himself banging against the impenetrable blockage with an enraged yell.  
"Open this door!_ Do you hear me?!_"  
Clank ran inside.

* * *

Now secure inside the Orvus Chamber, Clank put as much distance as he could between himself and the door as possible. Even despite the heavy seals on the entrance, he had no way of knowing just how persistent Azimuth would be in trying to get in. Who knew what the possessed General would resort to in order to get inside and change the past?

But Clank knew what he was willing to do. The proof was covering him. As he stepped towards the center of the Chamber in slow and fatigued movements, the robot looked down at his body and his hands. They were still stained with blood. _His_ blood. The image of his partner falling over the edge replayed over and over in his mind, like his memory banks had been consumed with nothing but those final moments.  
The way he had seemed so utterly lifeless. So _scared_.

And now here he was, stood inside the central control room for the most powerful piece of machinery ever devised, with a single lever stood before him. Jutting out of the floor, highlighted with a needle, so simple in design and execution, Clank knew what it was. This was the master switch. The one that could control time for the entirety of the universe.

He knew it was strictly for emergencies, to reverse or alter time regarding the Clock's operations should something go disastrously wrong. But this lever had the power to rip apart reality if one pushed it too far. It could even be classed as the most powerful weapon in the universe from that alone.

Clank didn't care, immediately stepping up and grasping his hands around the handle. As far as he was concerned, this was the gravest emergency there could be. He had a chance here, staring down at this simple interface. With just one pull, he knew that he could fix everything. He could go back and help Sigmund, he could subdue Azimuth before he ever fell over the event horizon of his bottled up emotions.  
He could stop Ratchet from dying.  
The power was here, in his hands, right now! All he had to do was pull it to the left and the Clock would do everything he needed it to and more.

But the moment he had tried to make his hands move, Clank was seized by a voice, replaying in his head like an audio file.

"_The Clock, much like time itself, it a gift, and not to be tampered with."_

Like it was a built in security feature or because his logic was overriding his emotions, Orvus' warning rang clear and true inside Clank's head. His father, his creator, would not want him to do this. And he _knew_ that Orvus was right.

If he pulled that lever, he would not only be undoing everything that his father had accomplished to help heal the universe, but he'd be no better than Nefarious or Azimuth wanting to use the Clock for their own personal gain. Clank faltered, his hands threatening to pull away from the lever. He couldn't use the Clock, not like this. It was too dangerous, it was stupid to think about, it was-

"_You kidding me? You think I'd leave my best pal out here alone?"_

Ratchet's voice called to Clank from his memory, the robot's face utterly torn as his emotions began overriding his logic this time. Ratchet hadn't abandoned him. Even when he had been presumed lost and had been missing for years, the Lombax had never once given up hope that they would be together again. How could Clank call himself Ratchet's friend if he didn't try to do the same, to do everything in his power for them to meet once more? The Clock _could_ let him do it.

"I... I do not know what to do..."  
Clank's hands shook against the master switch. The choice was not easy, each valid decision carrying consequences just as grave as each other. As he contemplated it, the small mechanoid suddenly wanted it all back. He wanted to forget the Clock, forget time, forget everything that had happened and just go back to the way things were. Just him and Ratchet, travelling the stars as best friends as it should be. And yet, even if a universe without Ratchet was horrible to consider, no universe at all would be worse for the billions of lives out there that had no idea of how very fragile their existence was at that moment. Clank could not in good conscious risk them for his own desires.

What was he going to do? How could he stop Azimuth?  
How could he go on without Ratchet...?  
And when nothing came to answer his questions, when everything seemed utterly hopeless and lost to him, a single phrase finally appeared in Clank's head when he closed his eyes.

"_I wouldn't risk any more than six minutes."_

The Plumber's words. The word of warning that he'd given Clank in the depths of his subconscious at a time that felt like centuries ago compared to now. Why had he remembered that...?  
"Six... minutes..." he murmured to himself. Why six minutes? What was the importance of six minutes? What would he be risking with that amount of time? Why had he recalled that memory now out of all the others? It was only when Clank's near vacant gaze rested on the needle display just behind the lever that he realised. It was a readout for the amount of time that could be shifted based on how the master switch was pulled. And it all began to fall into place.

"Six minutes...!" he exclaimed, taking a hold of the lever firmly within his hands. He didn't need long to reverse the damage that had been caused and the amount of time the Clock would reverse would be well within the limits of its capability for preventing emergencies. All Clank _needed_ was six minutes, three hundred and sixty seconds as a second chance to save his best friend from certain doom. Only now, it wasn't going to be so certain.

He didn't want to question how the Plumber had known, nor would he second guess his decision now. Clank's hands readjusted themselves around the master switch, bracing his legs for support against the mechanism before he finally pulled the lever to the left. The display's numbers ticked upwards to set the duration, the entirety of the Orvus Chamber vibrating in a low hum around him as it powered up. The moment the display finally hit that limit, Clank felt himself lose control of his body with a flash of blue light.

**6:00**

In an instant, the robot was letting go of the lever and running away from the centre of the Chamber. Backwards. Unable to stop himself, but fully aware because of his quantum actuator, Clank felt like he was watching the actions of someone else through their eyes as time continued to run in the opposite direction. He saw himself open the door to the Chamber, hearing the noise of Sigmund's cry from Azimuth's attack sound like a rewound recording as the energy attack compressed back into nothing.

**5:00**

Clank found himself brandishing his Chronoscepter again as he moved in reverse, watching as Azimuth's shots came back towards him. He swung the tool with a strange sensation of backwards momentum, sending the pulses of negative power back towards the General's wrench to be absorbed into the weapon as if they'd never happened. The Lombax screamed at him, his speech incoherent as the words undid themselves.

**4:00**

Both Sigmund and Azimuth jumped behind themselves as the Junior Caretaker restrained and then circled around the General from behind, completely mirroring his actions from before. They both yelled in contrary to normal words, Clank's body still jerking about on its own in a strange backwards sprint that continued to feel totally alien to him.

**3:00 **

As Clank made it to the platform where he had started his pursuit of Azimuth, the General flew back to his resting position as his threat of killing the robot travelled backwards into his mouth. Clank's own speech mirrored itself, the distortion of his vocal processors almost hurting from conjuring the sound in the wrong direction, turning around on the spot to lay down in the pool of blood that had once stained his body.

**2:00 **

As he looked over the edge of the platform, Clank could see a shape spinning up towards him, tumbling in the contrary winds of the Clocks' inner chambers. Ratchet's body was following the trail of Azimuth's weapon that he had left behind, a thin stream of blood from his grievous wound flowing back inside him as he came up. Clank felt his voice strain at screaming the Lombax's name in reverse, suddenly levitating off of the ground in a backwards version of his initial leap to stop Ratchet from falling.

**1:00**

Clean of his friend's blood now it had technically never touched him in the first place, Clank watched as the pool of liquid was sucked back up past the clenching grip of Ratchet's fingers. The crackling power of Azimuth's attack began to appear as well, slipping out of the Lombax's chest and healing the injury on its way out as though it had never touched him. Ratchet's face transformed from grimacing in agony to initial shock, then to one of indifference as he turned on the spot to face away from Azimuth.

**0:00**

Everything stopped. Clank blinked as the Clock's energy dissipated, finding himself once more in control of his own limbs. He glanced down at his clean hands. Had he done it? Had he managed to time it right to stop all of it from playing out? He darted his head up, returning his attention returned to the scene of the killing in progress. But it was no longer a killing.

In fact, nothing was even happening. The entirety of the Clock and the people stood on this platform were totally frozen, as though the flow of time had been halted for everything in the universe. Everything apart from him. Azimuth had just bellowed his order with a thrust forward of his wrench, stuck in a hunched forward pose. The electrical discharge had only just begun to generate itself between the prongs of the weapon, mere seconds away from shooting forwards and hitting their intended target. As he looked to the other side, Clank's emotional processes were nearly overwhelmed with relief.

Ratchet was alive. Still frozen, facing away from the General and unaware of the other Lombax's plan to murder him, but he was _alive_. He wasn't injured, he wasn't falling, he was here, safe and sound. Clank had done it. The Clock had granted him his wish of a second chance and the universe had been spared in the attempt despite being pushed to the limit.

But then, something drew the mechanoid's eye, something alarming. His focus twitched towards Azimuth as a subtle movement caught his attention. The spark of raw energy that had begun with the generation of that shot was moving. It was incredibly subtle, like it was running in extreme slow-motion, but Clank could pick it up through his visual scanners. And it was speeding up. Time was beginning to flow in the right direction again, the sound of the General's yelling fading into audible range the further along it went.

Clank realised he had literal seconds to act. There would be no second chances this time, no do-overs like he had been graciously allowed now. He had to move. With a scramble of his feet since he could move at full speed, the robot broke into a sprint, launching himself towards Ratchet's back. As the sharp timbre of the General's attack began to whir upwards in pitch to hear-able levels, Clank knew he was only moments away from being too late. But this time, he was going to make it. He _was_.

With no blood puddles or any other obstacles in his way, Clank jumped and collided with Ratchet's frozen body, just as the continuum returned to normal. Throwing all his weight into the Lombax's torso, the two tumbled forward to plant themselves to the ground just as Azimuth's attack barely missed Ratchet's head. The explosion it caused on the walkway from missing its mark destroyed one of the only paths to the Orvus Chamber in the process, blocking everyone off from it on this side of the Clock.

Ratchet grunted as he pushed himself up on his hands, staring ahead to see the wreckage of the blast. Before he had time to wonder what was going on, he turned around to get an idea of where it had come from. He found his answer in the crazed eyes of Azimuth. The elder Lombax was baring his teeth in a grimace, furious that the robot had caused him to miss. It would mean he'd need to find another way in to the Chamber. He didn't even speak a word, sheathing his wrench and considering this to be a decent enough distraction to stop both Ratchet and Clank from following him.

As Azimuth blasted away on his hoverboots, Ratchet was left utterly bewildered by what had just happened, getting to his feet with a shocked look on his face. Did the other Lombax just try to kill him...?  
"Ratchet, hurry! We cannot let him into the Chamber!"

Clank's voice snapped the mechanic out of his stupor, reaching out a hand to pick Clank up and pursue Azimuth on hoverboots of their own. As Clank tucked himself into his portable configuration, even despite the still present urgency of the now corrected events, he did feel a sense of accomplishment within the lingering horror of what he had just endured.

Ratchet would never just how close Azimuth came to succeeding in his attempt.


	8. Redemption

**Ratchet & Clank: Fractures In Time**

**8\. Redemption**

"General, what are you doing?!"  
"Correcting a mistake! The Lombaxes are coming home, _with or without your help!_"

Ratchet felt deja vu spiking every so often in his brain from what was going on. Just like on the sun-bleached wastelands of junk on Torren IV, he was chasing Azimuth down floating paths and steel rails in an effort to talk him down from making a frantic escape. But the circumstances behind it now were far more dire than back then. With the General having gained such a head start, Ratchet was desperately trying to keep up in order to stop him from reaching the Orvus Chamber.

The Lombax tucked his body down towards the rail, trying to stay as streamlined as he could manage despite the barrage of mines Azimuth was sending his way.  
"General, you have to stop this!" Ratchet cried, batting one of the explosives away with a timely wrench swing. "You _can't_ change the past!"  
"Can't? Hah!" Azimuth taunted. "Never could let go of consequence, could you?!"  
"You don't understand, you're gonna destroy everything!"  
"Stop preaching that robot's inane indoctrinations! Have I taught you nothing?"

As the two Lombaxes circled around the perimeter of the Chamber, Azimuth's bombs started to explode ahead of time with an altered trigger, damaging the rails Ratchet followed on in order to force his route elsewhere. The youth responded by using Clank's additional speed boost from his rotors to leap above the fireballs, holding his breath during the arc to avoid having smoke up his nose. Yet such a manoeuvrer continued to cost him time he didn't have, Azimuth already having made contact with the ground at the entrance to the control room.

"Ratchet, we cannot let him touch that lever!" Clank urged from his back.  
"I'm on it!" the Lombax confirmed, spinning through the air in a somersault off the final rail to pursue the mad elder. He knew how serious the consequences of what Azimuth wanted could be. If he initiated a shift of any magnitude, then the Clock itself would endanger everything, including the Lombaxes themselves in their own dimension. The General must have been incredibly desperate to ignore that fact.

* * *

"Get off me, you annoying little junk heap!"  
Ratchet slid to a halt in the Orvus Chamber just in time to witness Azimuth sending Sigmund spinning away with an almighty swing of his wrench. The Junior Caretaker slammed into one of the control consoles on the edge of the room, sparks and smoke rising from his body as he struggled to stay upright with a groan.  
"Sigmund!" Clank cried, leaping off of Ratchet's back to check on his friend's condition.  
"I tried to stop him, sir..." Sigmund replied, his voice tainted with distortion from the damage. "But... the master switch..."

Ratchet and Clank looked toward the centre of the Chamber in shock. Azimuth was stood before the lever, having just reached out to grab it with an almost maniacal grin stretched over his face.  
"General, don't!" the younger Lombax shouted. The elder merely looked over his shoulder, brow low in defiant confidence as he suddenly forced the switch all the way to the left.

At that moment, the entire Clock seemed to shudder to a halt, the motors and noises of the machinery coming to a stop around them. They then began to stir up, the floor nearly shaking form the intensity as everything suddenly blasted into overdrive.

"_Time shift initiated."_

Ratchet stared around him, watching as the numerous rotating sectors of the Clock he could see through the windows started to move backwards, speeding up to orbit around the Chamber like astral bodies. The master switch suddenly sealed itself away, two circular halves of bright steel concealing it from view before descending into the floor. They were too late.

Azimuth turned around, glaring at Ratchet with his wrench still at the ready in case his fellow Lombax tried to do anything. The younger of the two readied his own tool, taking a step forward in front of both Clank and Sigmund as if to protect them.  
"Ratchet...?" the small robot murmured.  
"I got this, Clank," he replied, not taking his eyes off the other Lombax. "I need you to try and unlock that switch. We might be able to shut it off if we hurry, I'll buy you some time."  
"You cannot fight him alone!" Clank protested. The memories of the previous timeline were still strong within him and he wouldn't dare risk that happening again. "We need to-"  
"I won't be alone. I've got you to help me."

Clank stopped before the words left his mouth, staring up at Ratchet as the Lombax took another few steps forward. The mechanoid looked briefly at the control panel that Sigmund had crashed into. All technological processes could be overridden. It made sense that there had to be be some way to override the lockout protocols mid-way through the shift.  
"I'm counting on you, pal!" Ratchet called back, grasping his wrench in both hands as he started to approach the General.

He trusted Clank wouldn't let him down. As this journey had proven, his mechanoid friend was not a sidekick or a tool, but a person that Ratchet could rely on even in the toughest of times. Clank nodded back at the request, knowing that the mechanic would also be able to give him the precious minutes he needed to break the safeguards. They could do this. Because if they didn't...

As the small 'bot helped Sigmund up off the floor, Clank suddenly felt the entire Clock lurch around him with a noticeable shudder.

_"Ramping up Quantum Actuator Stations 1 – 100."_

They needed to hurry.

Ratchet stopped in front of Azimuth, hunching his body down low in a fighting stance with his wrench as the elder started to circle around him. The General's previous fury seemed to have momentarily released his mind, his voice pleading in some attempt to finally make Ratchet see that this was for the best.

"I didn't want it to be like this!" he yelled, having to shout to be heard over the noises of the Clock's systems preparing for the shift. "You were supposed to be _here_, on my side! We could have saved them _together!_"  
"This isn't the way to do it, Azimuth!" Ratchet argued, repeating Clank's words from before. "Nothing we could want is worth risking the universe!"  
"Then it's clear the years away from our kind have made you _weak! _It's a good thing your father isn't alive to see you like this! A coward, a_ traitor! _He would have been so ashamed..."

Ratchet didn't justify that insult with words, flashing his teeth in a growl. The pair of them clenched at the handles of their wrenches, silently daring each other to make the first move. And they both lunged.

* * *

The sound of steel smashing against metal rang out through the Chamber as Ratchet and Azimuth swung their wrenches into each other, just as the entire Clock shook with a low rumble. Pieces of debris fell from above, glass cracking and splintering into razor-edged shards as bolts of temporal energy started to spark and crackle through the air. The two Lombaxes forced themselves away from each other to avoid the 'rain' above their heads, using their weapons to shield themselves from it.

Azimuth suddenly broke into a sprint at Ratchet and jumped, his wrench flung behind his head as he swung his arms down at the younger Lombax. Ratchet barely had a chance to somersault out of the way before the force of the swing cracked the brittle floor beneath him, another vibration causing them to stumble on their feet. Azimuth cursed under his breath and span around just in time to see Ratchet engage his own assault.

An amateurish attempt. He brought his weapon up, blocking the youth's attack and swinging forward himself, throwing his former student away and onto the ground.  
"This is the best you've got?" the elder taunted, his eyes burning with indignation. "You're nothing like your father!"

_"Warning: Breach detected in Actuator Stations 11, 14, 23 and 39."_

Meanwhile at the control panel, Clank had managed to reboot Sigmund back into a working form. The Junior Caretaker looked around him, suddenly flailing in a panic as it became clear what had just happened.  
"Oh, no...! H-He started a temporal shift! What a-are we gonna do? We can't s-stop it!"  
"We can, Sigmund!" Clank insisted in trying to make him focus. "But I can't do it alone. We need to unlock the master switch so Ratchet can disable it!"  
"We _can't!_ It all gets l-locked down as part of a security d-detail so it can't be tampered with during the p-process! It's all over!"  
"It's not over! We _can_ do this, but I need your help!" pleaded the mechanoid. "Please, Sigmund... we can't let Orvus down."

The Junior bot blinked, trying to calm down his rabid thoughts of destruction and the end times when mention of his mentor hit his audio sensors. The one who had saved him from a mediocre existence as a mere cleaner and transformed him into so much more. XJ-0461 was right. He had to be brave, to put aside his fears to ensure that Orvus' work would not be destroyed.

Sigmund wiggled his fingers, activating a hacking display through his built in monitor.  
"A-Alright, sir. Let's get it done!"  
Clank managed a brief smile before he too resumed work on bypassing the Clock's systems. He could only hope that Ratchet could keep the rabid General distracted long enough.

Ratchet used the momentum of his legs to flip onto his feet, readjusting the grip on his wrench as tried to talk some sense into his own mentor.  
"Look around you, Alister! The Clock is breaking!"  
"Don't try your tired arguments on me, Ratchet!" Azimuth snapped back. "It can handle it, this is it what it was built for!"  
The golden Lombax ran forward, using his dominant hand to whirl his wrench around in an arc to strike the General. Azimuth predicted it, using his double-ended weapon to block the hit before repeating the movement as Ratchet attempted to hit the other side.

Even despite all the strength put into the attacks, Azimuth didn't even budge, his years of military training and preparation making him too strong. Once again, Ratchet was flung backwards and only managed to save himself from slipping over the edge of the Chamber's platform by using his hoverboots to slow him down.  
"Ratchet!" he heard Clank call from the control panel.  
"I'm fine, keep working on those controls!" he ordered, landing on solid ground. The General simply laughed at his attempt.  
"It's going to take more than _that_ to stop me!"

He was right. Brute force wasn't going to work as Azimuth was countering everything that Ratchet was throwing at him. He had to change tactics, assuming that reasoning and defending were his only options to make the older Lombax understand that what he was doing was a mistake. At least it would give him time to search for a weakness.

The General lowered his wrench for a moment, seeming to have thought of the same thing as his features relaxed to make Ratchet see the error of his ways.  
"Why are you fighting this? Don't you understand what I'm trying to do? I'm trying to give you your _family_ back!"  
Ratchet shook his head, raising his wrench like a sword in defiance.  
"You're risking everyone else in the process! I can't let you do this!"  
Azimuth's face scowled once more.  
"You don't have a choice! Nothing can stop it now!"

Another resonance suddenly shook the Chamber as a noticeable explosion from outside illuminated the space. Streams of blue-hued electricity began to materialise in giant columns through the facility, spiralling around the Chamber itself.

_"Quantum tunnelling initiated."_

The announcement caused Azimuth to look above him, a triumphant smile stretching across his face. It was proof that he was right all along. The Clock _could_ alter time.  
"You hear that? In a few moments, we will be able to prevent the greatest injustice in Lombax history! Just a few more seconds, the Clock will shift time and we'll be able to make our own future!""

But the screeching of shattering gears, the booms of thunderous electricity, the dissonant chaos of sound around them was all proof of the exact opposite to Ratchet. Proof that the machine wouldn't be able to take the strain. As the universe outside of the Clock's boundaries began to rotate faster and faster, it was obvious from the eruptions of fire and the destruction of vital components that it would not survive the shift. That nothing would.

"You need to be stopped, General!" Ratchet shouted, wincing as another explosion above his head burst into life. "You'll end up destroying everything for something that needs to be left alone!"  
"There you go again, repeating what that empty machine of yours has drilled into your head!" Azimuth mocked. "Use your own thoughts, boy, not what the Zoni say!"  
"Open your eyes!" the younger begged. "You've been so caught up in your own regret that you don't realise what's going to happen if you use the Clock! You're putting the Lombaxes in just as much danger! I won't let you risk everything to be so selfish!"

Ratchet immediately regretted saying that as Azimuth's eye noticeably twitched. A new wave of pure rage took the elder over at being insulted in such a way, running forwards and swinging his weapon relentlessly into the young mechanic and barely giving the Lombax any time to react.

"Selfish?! You think trying to save our friends, our families from _dying_ is selfish?!" he screamed, beating down against Ratchet's weapon over and over again like a machine. "They didn't all escape, did you know that? _Hundreds_ were lost! Tachyon destroyed _everything_ in his path!"  
"Alister, please...!" Ratchet cried, feeling his guard breaking down with every hit as the General ignored him.  
"And now you're fighting one of your own so that some filthy Cragmite can kill your father? Your mother?! _I have to do this!_"

"_Warning: Quantum actuators at 40% efficiency. Time shift success estimated at 60%."_

Azimuth's anger induced flurry seemed to work. One of his blows jerked Ratchet's leg back just far enough for him to lose his balance and cause the the younger Lombax to fall backwards onto the floor. Azimuth stood above him and slammed his wrench down at the other, the two of them locked into a battle of strength to see who would lose their grip first.

Ratchet grunted as he tried to force off Azimuth's weapon but the General was unflinching.  
"General, stop! Fighting me won't change a thing!"  
"Oh, so _now_ you're telling me to stop? Just when you're about to lose? How convenient!"  
"The Clock's going to shatter, we don't have time for this!"  
"Time is _exactly _what we have, as much of it as we need! And if you're going to get in my way-"  
"You're just gonna kill me?!"  
The cold and empty stare that Ratchet got back said all it needed to. But the way Azimuth said it in such a calm but threatening way, legitimately scared him.  
"Kill you now, save you in the past."

_"System failure detected in Temporal Stabiliser Alpha. Time Shift success estimated at 23%."_

At the same time, both Clank and Sigmund were on the last of the security processes to break. The system had been slowly destabilising as they went, trying to divert its resources to other areas of the Clock to prevent a cascade of errors from shutting everything down. But nothing was working, the power draw and multiple equipment failures only making their task that much harder.

"Sigmund, divert as much power as you can to Junction 26A, it should allow us to short out the lock!"  
"I-I'm on it, sir!"  
The two synthetics tapped on their keys, unaware of the battle raging behind them between the two Lombaxes. A sudden flourish of acceptance noises kept their attention solely on the screens, the system finally bypassed to allow usage of the switch again. Clank spun around in elation, but was met with the sight of his friend trapped on the ground with the General looming over him.  
"Ratchet!"

The Lombax didn't hear him, letting out a cry of effort as he kicked Azimuth in the stomach, pushing him away with a shove. He used his wrench to pull himself upright, the General doing the same as the two of them faced each other.  
"Alister..." Ratchet panted, battered and bruised from every strike and knock he'd taken. "I don't want to fight you...!"  
"I'm sorry, Ratchet..." came the response, a brief look of regret flashing through the elder's eyes before he readied his weapon once more. "But I've come too far to fail now!"

_"Warning: Fatal errors detected across all temporal processes. Time Shift success estimated at 21%."_

Yet another explosion rocked the Chamber, the central generator above their heads vibrating and bursting into flame. Panels of metal and multiple fixtures were blown off of their mountings, causing Ratchet to turn his gaze upwards to avoid anything that could injure him. Azimuth, on the other hand, took no such precaution. Sensing the younger Lombax's lack of attention, he took the time to charge, body slamming himself into his small counterpart and pinning him to the ground.

Hands clasped around Ratchet's neck as he landed, losing a hold of his wrench as it clattered to the floor. His hands starting to flail, batting and hitting at Azimuth's arms to throw them off, but the compression of his airway made him choke and splutter for air as he struggled to break free from the General's powerful grip. Azimuth didn't even flinch, glaring down at Ratchet with justified intent.

Even if it was another Lombax, even if it was Kaden's son, no _traitor_ was not going to stop him. Even if Ratchet had to die for it, the Clock could revive him if necessary. It was all for his own good.  
All for his own good.  
His own good.

At the same time, Clank could only stand as a witness to the attack, even as the master switch was brought up from beneath the Chamber floor. The sight of Azimuth, once again having Ratchet at his mercy, brought a terrible feeling of repetition to his circuity. The feeling that he was in the process of watching his best friend get killed by his elder again.

The robot's hands clenched together in fists. He had vowed to himself that he would never let those terrible events come close to transpiring again, only taking a brief look at Sigmund before he made up his mind.  
"Wait, sir! What are you doing?!"

The Junior Caretaker called after Clank as the smaller robot broke into a run, hurrying across the shattered and splintered floor of the Chamber towards the two Lombaxes. He could see Ratchet's eyes screw shut, straining for breath as Azimuth's fingers were digging in hard enough to leave marks. Clank would never again see Ratchet come to harm, summoning the Chronoscepter amid the turbulent fluxes of temporal energy. That alternate history, the sequence of events that had nearly crushed Clank's being, was not going to happen now.  
"You will _not_ hurt him again!"

Azimuth had only barely just processed Clank's words when the centrepiece of the Chronoscepter suddenly slammed into the side of his head. The General howled in pain as he was thrown to the side from the impact, both of his hands grabbing around his skull as pain throbbed beneath the surface of his skin. Ratchet gasped, coughing as he rolled onto his front with lungs burning for oxygen. Resting on his elbows as he wheezed for air, he raised his head to see Clank stood beside him, Chronoscepter in hand. His friend had just saved his life.  
"Ratchet, the switch!"

The Lombax nodded, wobbling as he stood up with a gesture for Clank to stay back from the master control. As the robot complied and took a handful of steps back, the lever was now unlocked and in full view, still wrenched down into the reverse position from when Azimuth had last touched it. Ratchet braced one of his feet against the hinge that would make it turn, grabbing the device with both of his hands before he started to pull. And he had to pull hard, the mechanism feeling like it had totally seized up. He was leaning back his entire body, screwing his face up as what little strength he had left was dedicated to fixing it.

Azimuth groaned, lowering his hands away from the side of his head and seeing bloody palms meet his eyes. That foul little mech had struck him, only just below his temple. He staggered about on his hands and knees, feeling hot blood run down one side of his head as he struggled to get up. He looked in front of him, suddenly realising what Ratchet was going to do.

"No!" he cried, reaching out a hand in futility to stop his former charge. "What are you doing?!"  
"Come on...!" Ratchet grunted to himself, relaxing his arms briefly before he tried pulling again. But the switch just wouldn't move, the urgency of the situation rising even higher as the unit above his head was beginning to swirl with temporal energy.  
"Ratchet, don't!" Azimuth pleaded with him, all of his anger gone. All that was left was the desperate cries of an old veteran, begging to fix what he had done to his people. "Don't forsake them, please! You'll be alone! For the rest of your life, _you'll be alone!_"

Ratchet went limp at those words, staring at Azimuth as the two Lombaxes remained silent. Both bloody and wounded, Ratchet's face crumpled into a desperate one of his own to stop the pointless fighting.  
"But I don't have to be!" he insisted. "Help me, Alister!"  
The General's face fell, another explosion stopping him before he could think of what to say.

Ratchet stared up in alarm at the central generator of the Chamber, knowing that it was going to rupture unless he did something. He forced his aching muscles to grab the lever again, now placing both of his feet on either side of the fulcrum to add as much weight to it as he could. It had to move, it just _had_ to. But it didn't. With an almighty groan, the construction of the switch gave way and the lever snapped off in Ratchet's hands. He fell backwards away from it, the sudden loss of control causing a giant column of quantum energy to shoot up into the generator.

The mechanics of the Clock came to a halt at the anomaly, the ticking components stuck in their gears as the entirety of space outside was whirling around them like a tornado. It was only then, after everything that had happened, that Azimuth could see something was wrong.  
"It's not working..." he gasped, dragging his tired body to his feet. "Why isn't it working?!"  
"Because it's _not a time machine_, Alister!" Ratchet cried, the utter discordance of the failing technology around them threatening to drown him out. "The Clock isn't meant to alter time, only keep it!"

"_Thirty seconds until total system failure."_

A whirlwind of temporal energy began to surround the Chamber itself, like a bubble from the outer universe was sealing them away. Azimuth could only stare at the horrendous damage with a startling realisation as it finally hit him. He was _wrong_. The Clock _wasn't _a time machine. He had been so fixated on his mistakes, on his attempts to correct the past, that his obsession had blinded him to the truth which had been told to him time and time again.

Even worse, his destroyed inhibitions had caused him to harm one of his own for simply getting in the way. No, worse that that. He had _wanted_ to hurt Ratchet. He'd _wanted_ to kill him. And now he was left with a machine on the verge of collapse, about to take all of existence with it. Even if words wouldn't do it justice, the General mumbled to himself as it sank in.  
"I'm so sorry..."

Ratchet's eyes screwed up against the onslaught of temporal forces, threatening to blow him back as he could only think of one thing left to do. His own wrench would have to take place of the lever, the only thing able to adapt to the connection and move it. But try as he might, even just reaching out to touch the distortion was enough to blast him backwards, nearly making him fall down again. Panic starting to build in his chest, forcing his weary limbs to keep forging ahead. They couldn't let it end like this.

But when Ratchet tried to approach the wall of time again, someone stopped him. Azimuth, his weapon disarmed and his hand held out in front to stop the younger Lombax from proceeding, looked into Ratchet's eyes.  
"No. Let me."  
Ratchet saw that look in Azimuth's eyes, apology and regret creasing his old features as the General turned to face the raging storm in front of them both.  
"What are you gonna do?!"

Azimuth held strong, even with the tidal forces of the Clock's collapse making it hard to maintain a sturdy position. But he had to make up for what he had done. Even if he would never be able to save his race, even if he would never be able to undo what he had done in the past and in the present, he could do something now. He could save everyone else from enduring the same fate as the Lombaxes and disappearing from the universe. He turned to look over his shoulder.

Kaden's boy, alive and well long after the rest of them had gone. It was surely something to proud of. And Azimuth _was_ genuinely proud. It was just such a shame that this may be the last time he'd be able to think that. He smiled as he brandished his wrench again, forcing it down into the groove of the switch's gears to act as a new one in its place.  
"Take care of yourself, Ratchet."

Azimuth pushed and he pushed hard. The gears gave way, jolting him forward a little as he continued to force it down. The sheer pressure from the temporal wall was straining his body, every muscle of his being threatening to give out on him. But the General refused to give in, pushing forward another notch as the anomaly continued to increase in strength.  
"Alister! _Alister!_" Ratchet cried, almost unable to see his elder from how bright the light had gotten. Azimuth grit his teeth. Just one more push...

With a final failure of the locked up cogs against his wrench, the General forced the switch all the way to the other side, just as the temporal flux finally reached a peak. The energy was drawn into the generator above the Chamber, trying to disperse the built up power as best as it could manage. But the extra energy was too much for it to contain and the overflow had to go somewhere. With an thunderous clap, the blast shook the Chamber and threw Ratchet backwards, tumbling him through the air as his senses failed him.

Once again, the world went dark.

* * *

Ratchet's entire body was aching as he came to, like he'd just been slammed into a brick wall. His hands clawed at the ground beneath him, arms trembling at the effort of getting himself up. The whirlwind of noise that had once been threatening to burst his ear drums had come to a total stop, the gentle ticking of the Clock's parts and background hum of its many moving components like a salve to his tortured ears.

They were alive. They were hurt, they were in pain, and it had been the closest call that they'd ever had to truly losing it all. But they were alive and intact. For the most part. The Clock had been saved from total annihilation and the universe had survived without a single clue that it had nearly hadn't. The Lombax grit his teeth, forcing his beaten body up as the distinct whir of motors caught his attention at his side. Clank had only just gotten to his feet as well, apparently having been flung nearby from the blast.

The two looked at each other as they mirrored their sense of utter relief. But they didn't have time to savour such a moment when they both turned their attention back to the middle of the Orvus Chamber. The sight caused Ratchet to gasp, wincing and grunting in pain as he strained his battered body to get to his feet. He stumbled forward, ignoring Clank's weak attempts to hold him back as he did so.  
"Alister!"

General Azimuth was sprawled on the ground, face down just short of the base of the master switch. His wrench was still stuck in the gears, sparkling with the remnants of quantum energy that had threatened to atomise everything in the room. Ratchet's boots clanked against the metal flooring, stumbling with a hiss as he slipped down onto his knees unsteadily in front of the elder's body.  
"General! General, wake up!" the Lombax huffed, shoving the other around his shoulders to try and rouse him from unconsciousness.

But Azimuth didn't respond. Ratchet tried again, his eyes widening as apprehension began to spike in his chest with each hard push. No. Not him too.  
"Alister! Wake up!"  
Azimuth did not move. Again and again, Ratchet tried to bring the elder around, shouting as loud as his hoarse voice would let him and shoving the General hard enough to nearly roll him over. But the white Lombax refused to move, his arms falling forward with a clang of his armoured braces against the floor.

Ratchet's memories started to fill in the blanks. He remembered his elder forcing himself towards the centre of the flux, battling away the sheer power that raged within the storm of time. He remembered the light focusing inward on itself, growing brighter and brighter until it blinded everyone near it. And just before he was knocked out, Ratchet remembered hearing an explosion. An explosion that Azimuth had been at the heart of.

He pulled his hands away as it sank in, his body feeling even heavier than before even without his injuries. He subtly shook his head, like he was trying to convince himself it wasn't what he thought it was. That it wasn't real. That he wasn't really dead.  
"You... said you wanted to be my family..." Ratchet whispered, staring down at the still form of the General. Part of him wanted Azimuth to suddenly splutter awake, to answer his words and keep his promise of not leaving him alone. But the smarter half knew better.  
Azimuth was gone.

Ratchet stared at the floor, spotting the General's pocket watch mere inches from his limp hand. His elder must have been holding onto it, he thought, right up until the end. He reached down, his face grimacing in pain at having to moving his injured arm before he brought the watch up to open it. The clock inside had stopped working, the inner moving parts and mechanics just as still and unmoving as their owner. All that remained was the picture of Kaden and Azimuth, a testament to the power of the General's memories having survived this long to spur him on to do what he did.

Clank stepped to Ratchet's side, hesitantly reaching out his hand to touch the Lombax's arm as a stray tear fell from his friend's face to the ground. The robot wanted to do something to comfort his partner, anything to try and lessen the pain, but he didn't know what would be appropriate. But he still had to try.  
"He... did a brave thing, Ratchet," Clank finally said. "You should be proud of him."

Ratchet was. His head briefly turned towards Clank as he shut the watch in his hand. He pulled it close to his chest, clutching it hard enough to nearly break the thing as he closed his eyes. There was no denying his friend's logic. Without Azimuth's sacrifice, then they wouldn't be having this conversation or having the chance to mourn his efforts. But as much as he may have appreciated the robot's attempts to ease his feelings, Ratchet wasn't sure if it had helped at all.

Cassiopeia's mocking words were only being proven correct. First his parents. Then Clank. Then Azimuth. The Lombax sighed to himself, rubbing his wet eyes.

At that moment, he really did feel just like the orphan she had described.


	9. Epilogue: Home

**Ratchet & Clank: Fractures In Time**

**Epilogue: Home**

The damage to the Clock had been severe. No sector had been left untouched by the attempted time shift, the facility in an even worse state than when Nefarious had initially unleashed his machines to wreck havoc on the Zoni. But now, those very same Zoni that had been chased away and scattered across Polaris space were now home and aiding in the repairs, their bioenergy restoring every broken component, structure and window back to near pristine condition.

Ratchet had released them from the Vessel, backing up his promise to Clank to give them back once everything was over and done with. He too had done what he could to help out, drawing on his mechanical knowledge to access the pieces that the smaller Zoni could not easily manipulate by themselves. Even though he still didn't know what half of the things he was touching did, the Lombax worked hard to restore Orvus' creation back to the way it was. It was a welcome distraction.

Not an hour later, they had held a small service for General Azimuth. They had wrapped him as carefully as they could with the elder's own supplies of dressings and blankets, trying to hide any exposed part of him so as not to let him be exposed to the ravages of the cosmos immediately. Then, with the help of the Zoni and their ability to transport themselves, they had teleported him outside into the depths of the Breegus Nebula. It felt appropriate. A symbolic idea to allow the General to chase the stars for all he sought for the rest of time if need be.

As the Lombax had watched Azimuth's body float away into into the void of birthing stars and solar winds on the Clock's monitors, he knew he was severing the last link to his race in this dimension. It was an awful truth that only added to the hurt ravaging his heart, but he had to keep it hidden, keep it concealed. He had promised himself he would. Heroes were not supposed to cry.

Clank had not taken his eyes off Ratchet the entire time either. No bio scan was necessary to see the truth. His partner was hurting, probably so deeply that being able to appear emotionless at that moment was taking all of his concentration to pull off. Not that Ratchet would ever actually admit it was the case.

But they didn't have much time to mourn. The Clock was still in need of fixing, and fix it they did.

* * *

After a matter of hours, Ratchet, Clank and Sigmund stood in the repaired Orvus Chamber, just as the master switch was sealed away behind a new reinforced bulkhead security mechanism. Through the windows that let them see outside, the Clock gleamed as though it had just been built, the streams of quantum power directed and controlled through its inhibitors in stark contrast to the unstable blasts of energy that had once consumed the construct whole.

"Well... looks like there's just one more thing to fix," Ratchet commented, idly twirling a power cord in his hand like a rope. He shot a look Clank's way, pursing his lips in a half-baked imitation of a smile before he pushed the connection into its socket.  
_"Time keeper restored." _  
Even as the holographic message of Orvus flashed back to life, Clank did not feel happy at what he had just seen. Because they both knew what was going to come next. This was the part where they parted ways and finally said goodbye.

Ratchet may have seemed calm, but the constant occasional blinks and clenching of his jaws was proof he was holding back his feelings again, a trait that Clank had never agreed with in all the long years they'd known each other. The mechanic exhaled as he stepped away from the control panel, taking a moment to look up at the Orvus hologram before back down to his partner in crime.

The Lombax had to be grateful to the Zoni for what he had done, for giving Clank that vital spark of life and personality that made him who he was. In a way, Orvus was the one who had brought them together. It seemed fitting that he would be the one to pull them apart again.  
"I'll leave you two alone," Ratchet mumbled, walking towards the way out of the Chamber and to his ship. After all, it wasn't "their" ship any more, not now.

Clank took a few steps after him as the Lombax started to leave, reaching out a hand without thinking. He just wanted to say... _something_. It wasn't right for their time together to end with silence.  
"Ratchet, I-" he started to apologise.  
"It's okay, Clank," the Lombax insisted, braving a smile for his friend. "It's what you were built for."

Hearing his own words used against him shut Clank up, lowering his arm in defeat. The Lombax's face relaxed , nodding his head at the small robot. There was no sense in trying to put it off any longer, not if the Senior Caretaker had his work cut out for him repairing any lingering damage they may have missed.  
"Take care of yourself, pal," Ratchet wished, feeling his eyes start to well as he said it, knowing that he sounded just like Azimuth had. He turned away quickly, trying to disguise his emotional state as as best he could. Clank didn't need to see him like this.

Clank himself didn't move for a long while, staring after Ratchet until he had passed the threshold of the door. His posture slumped. That was it. They were done. They had accomplished what they needed to and they'd parted on good terms. What else could he really ask for?

But something within the mechanoid still didn't feel right as he turned around, staring up at the recording of his father that he had never managed to see through to the end. Almost absent-mindedly, the robot pressed a key on the console to continue playing the video.  
_"The Clock, much like time itself, is a gift-"_

Clank halted the message, staring down at the space between his feet. Orvus was right, time _was_ a gift. And gifts were meant to be appreciated and used to enrich the little time that everyone was given in this existence. But after everything that had happened over these last few days, Clank was the only one who had come out on top. He had discovered a family of his own, he had found a purpose in life to strive for that was noble and just, for the good of everyone.

But Ratchet? He had lost _everything_. He'd lost his race, he'd lost his mentor, and he'd now lost his best friend. It was obvious from the way that he had walked out without a word that he didn't feel like he had a purpose now. He had dedicated years of his life to try and find his closest companion somewhere in the impossible scale of the universe and he was being made to leave without anything to show for it.

Guilt swelled within Orvus' heir. How could he even _pretend_ that this was the right thing to do?

* * *

Ratchet's head hung low to the ground as he approached Aphelion, pressing the button on his glove to open the cockpit remotely. His movement was lethargic and slow, unable to tell if it was because of the physical efforts within the Chamber or because of how he felt. But the latter wasn't relevant, that's all he had to keep telling himself. If Clank was happy here, then he couldn't ask for anything more.

The Lombax slumped into his seat with a grunt, at least partially grateful to have the chance to give his feet a break. He yanked at his gloves, pulling them away from his hands to flex his clawed fingers, baring his teeth in a grimace as the bruising around his sides made the armour segments a little more painful to remove. Now in just his flight suit without the bulky metallic components, Ratchet tossed the extra pieces to the floor out of the way.  
"Aphelion. Let's get out of here."

The ship was immediately concerned as she was woken up out of her stasis, detecting the tone of her pilot's voice. Even more so, she did not pick up on the electronic signature of Clank.  
_"Is our co-pilot not joining us?"_  
"No. He isn't."  
_"But-"_  
"Start ignition sequence."

Aphelion went quiet at Ratchet's abrupt tone, though found it hard not to detect the subtle waver in his command thanks to her advanced response algorithms to potential pilots. The Lombax swallowed. Then he swallowed again. The lump that was there was clearly not wanting to go away, causing him to force a cough in an attempt to disguise what he was doing. If she could have sighed, she would have.

Ratchet was a very poor liar.

* * *

He didn't need to think on long on it. The decision was made.  
"I... cannot stay," Clank announced, stepping away from the controls of the Chamber.  
"W-W-What...?" Sigmund stammered back, having simply waited on the sidelines until XJ-0461's friend had gone. "Can't stay...?"  
"I am sorry, Sigmund," the robot replied, bowing his head as if to emphasise his apology. "I am truly grateful for the chance to have met you, to know where I came from. But..."

Clank paused as he turned around, staring up at the recording of Orvus. As if there was some vague notion that the real Orvus could somehow hear him.  
"Father. Discovering my family has made me realise that... I _cannot_ leave Ratchet," he explained. "Not until he finds his own."  
"Sir..." Sigmund mumbled, staring at his mentor's son in awe.  
"He has sacrificed so much for me," Clank continued to the hologram. "And now he has no one left. He _needs_ me. I... hope you understand."

Naturally, the Orvus projection didn't reply, but Clank did feel a little better saying what he had. If there was some chance his father was listening, he had made his peace, wishing that the Zoni would not take the rejection of his inheritance poorly.  
"So you're leaving...?" Sigmund asked, bewildered at how suddenly the change of heart had come about. And yet even that in itself felt strangely... non-threatening. He hadn't even detected a hint of panic in his circuitry, causing him to start tapping away on his display to find out what the problem was.

"Energy output normal, harmonic stabilisers stable..." the Caretaker muttered, leaning away from his screen without an answer. There wasn't actually anything wrong with his insides. So then... "Why aren't I freaking out?" he asked.  
Clank smiled softly. He was proud of how far Sigmund had come in the short time he had worked with him, transforming from scared junior personnel hiding in the broom closet to one brave enough to stand up to Azimuth when he threatened the most important room in the Clock. That spoke more than any system diagnostic could.

* * *

The ship's engines burst into life as the pre-flight checks got under way. Normally Ratchet was never this thorough, much to Aphelion's usual annoyance, but throwing himself into this was the only way he could think to cope. Work always distracted him, gave him something to focus on rather than the obvious pain that kept spiking behind his ribs.

Ratchet reached over to the middle screen, adjusting the sensitivity of the navigation systems with a few dial turns at the base of the display. But he found himself stopping halfway through. His eyes drifted over to the other side of the cockpit. To the empty seat where Clank used to sit. He blinked, feeling that awful welling sensation again before he promptly pulled himself away.

He spluttered as the beginnings of a sob slipped past the "barrier", rubbing at his eyes with a sniff. He cursed under his breath for letting that happen as he decided to move onto something else. Checking the flaps, that was something he could do. He shook his head with another huff of air, turning the flight wheel left and right a handful more times than he probably should have done.

Aphelion was trying her best to stay quiet, but the Lombax's agitated behaviour was starting to concern her.  
_"Ratchet,"_ she announced, never usually one to audibly speak his name unless it was important. _"Are you sure we should not wait for Cl-"_  
"No," he suddenly blurted, his voice breaking as his hands tightened their hold on the controls. "Prepare for take-off."

Naturally, the Lombax vessel complied, but it didn't mean she had to like it. Ratchet was clearly stressed from something, even if the specifics of why Clank was not with them were lost to her. She could only hope that they hadn't fallen out or that it was something trivial that could be resolved. Her voyages hadn't really been the same since the little robot had disappeared.

From how Ratchet was trying everything in his power to not stare at the outside world, at the Clock, it was obvious he shared that sentiment.

* * *

"Perhaps you are ready to be promoted?" Clank suggested, holding out his hand to manifest the Chronoscepter. He turned the handle towards Sigmund, causing the larger 'bot to gasp in surprise with a pointed finger towards himself.  
"Me? Senior Caretaker...?" he questioned, taking the scepter from XJ-0461 and staring into the rotating headpiece in utter wonder. He was being entrusted with those duties? Did XJ-0461 truly think he was ready to take them on? Well, if Orvus' own child thought he could do so, then there would be no better authority to accept the job from.

"Yaahoo!" Sigmund cried, raising the Chronoscepter above his head in a triumphant little twirl. Clank snickered to himself, nodding towards the new Caretaker of the Clock. He knew that the former Junior would be just fine.  
"Thank you, sir! Thank you so much!" Sigmund beamed with gratitude. Clank lowered his head in a parting bow.  
"Take care, Sigmund. We will meet again."

* * *

And with that, Clank changed targets. With no regrets in his systems as to what he had chosen to do, the little robot began to sprint out of the Chamber, hoping that he would be able to catch Ratchet in time before he left the boundaries of the Clock. He had to be quick. The Lombax was not going to be one to hang about if he could help it based on past experience, running as fast as his little legs would take him to make it in time.

As the robot passed under the archway of the Chamber entrance, he was relieved the bright blue hues of the Zoni-improved Aphelion still sat on the landing pad. He still had time! He swung his arms forward to give him a head start of momentum, the metal soles of his feet clicking and clacking against the sturdy material of the Clock's walkways to catch up. As much as he had been sprinting around this place for days on end to get to different sectors and to prevent the Chamber was being misused, none of those times were as important to Clank as catching this ship was now.

At the same time, Ratchet was hovering his finger over the cockpit button to seal the canopy. It was the last thing he had left to do, having exhausted every checklist he could think to run. And yet he found himself unable to press it, his digit shaking a little bit as that awful rising feeling in his throat reared its ugly head again. He suppressed it, feeling the muscle seize up when it became crystal clear what pressing this would mean. That it was truly the last thing separating him from Clank.

The Lombax swore at himself mentally for being so stupid. This is what Clank _wanted_, that mattered more than his own feelings on the matter. He growled behind his teeth as he made his hand move, finally depressing the switch and sealing the cockpit for travel. He closed his eyes, almost as if the idea of watching the bubble-like seal descend around him would be enough to make him lose control again.

Clank saw that hatch closing just as he reached the stairs to the pad. He used his Heli-Pak rotor to boost himself up them, knowing that each individual step would cost him too much time because of his size.  
_'Please, don't go yet!'_ Clank thought to himself, seeing the large nose of the ship loom over him as the canopy descended ever lower with a whirring hum. The robot had to chance it, knowing that this would either give him a perfect landing or cause him external damage from hitting the cockpit visor.

Clank jumped, tucking his body in to slip through the limited space that he'd been given. With luck on his side, he didn't make contact with the edge of the seal, unfurling himself just in time as it went flush with the Aphelion's hull. The thump that followed as the robot landed in his seat nearly made Ratchet jump out of his fur.

Clank didn't want to look at him in the eye. He stared straight ahead, his own expression just as emotional because what he had done. Even if he knew he was giving up the wishes of his father, what was expected of him, the truth was that they didn't matter to him nearly as much as Ratchet did. The robot continued staring ahead, knowing that green eyes were locked on him from the side.

If he could experience the same sensations of tears that organics could, Clank had no doubt he would be in just as similar a situation as his counterpart. He dared a request with a noticeable hesitation to his voice, as though he was afraid with what the response would be.  
"Please do not be angry with me."

Ratchet's mouth hung open, staring at Clank in utter bafflement. His expectations had been broken, everything that had been running through his head for minutes before the mechanoid had jumped in evaporating into nothing. His friend had come back. He'd changed his mind. Over everything that the little synthetic had insisted on and rationalised away, he had pushed all of that logic aside for him. _He _had been chosen over the Clock, over Orvus. It was one of the only few times that someone had shown that level of care to him before.

With that fact, the "barrier" did not and _could_ not maintain its strength. The wall around his emotions finally disintegrated, hot tears spilling out over the Lombax's cheeks as his shallow breathing quaked from the subjugated weeping now starting to escape its prison within him. Clank noticed it from his audio receptors, repeating his request as though he was expecting those tears to be of frustration and anger at what he was doing. He knew this could have been seen as cruel, to upset Ratchet so gravely before taking it all back at the last minute. It was almost like taunting with him by changing his mind.  
"Please...?"  
"Oh, shut up, you stupid tin can...!"

Ratchet suddenly seized Clank from his seat with both of his hands in a furious jerking movement, pulling the robot close to his chest in a grip that was even harder than their first attempt at saying goodbye. His back rose and fell a little as he let out all of his pent up emotion in muffled sobs to Clank's shoulder. All the sadness of his journey to search for his partner, the loss of Azimuth and the chance to once again save his race... but also the pure joy that at the end of it all, they still had each other. Ratchet would never normally be so open with his emotions like this, but in the private seal of their ship's cockpit, he didn't feel like holding back any more.

Clank returned the hug with one of his own, smiling warmly to himself as his colder metal hands brushed through the fur around his friend's neck. The Lombax relaxed a little, leaning Clank away from him with his hands rested on the robot's shoulders. He sniffed rather audibly this time, reaching up to rub at his leaking eyes with a broken laugh.  
"...I-I'm really bad at this, huh...?"  
Clank shook his head, patting the Lombax's shoulder.  
"No worse than anyone else, Ratchet."

The mechanic nodded, beaming his teeth in a smile as he sniffed again to control his tears. An impulsive idea came to mind from his more impassioned state, in a move that surprised the robot. Ratchet turned Clank around on the spot and set him down in his lap, just in front of the flight controls while still keeping his embrace tight as if to deny all possibility of 'escape'.

Clank, despite finding it so unlike the Ratchet he knew, giggled in his trademark laugh at the idea, finding it to tickle him something fierce at how it must look.  
"Hey...!" Ratchet croaked, clearing his throat to fail at getting back to some sense of normalcy. "You tell anyone about this and I'll melt you down for scrap."  
"I can proceed safely knowing that isn't true," Clank replied with a near smug tone to his voice before it turned much warmer. "But I will keep it personal to us all the same. I... like this side of you."

Ratchet smirked, blinking to try and make sure no more tears escaped him again. Right now, he just wanted Clank nearby, to physically feel what his presence was like after the years of him being missing.  
"Well... it's a one off deal, so savour it while you can."  
The little mechanoid had no problems with this arrangement, holding onto the bottom rung of the flight controls as Ratchet's arms warmed his outer structure.  
_"I won't blab either, you two," _Aphelion promised them, starting to rise off the platform in a VTOL manoeuvrer. Her sudden interjection caused her two pilots to chuckle warmly among themselves.

Ratchet looked down at his partner. As far as he was concerned, he never did need anything like the Clock to save his kind, his parents. The synthetic sitting in his lap was all the family he ever needed, confirming it to himself with a brief rub of Clank's head around the base of his antenna.  
"So... where to, pal?"  
Clank reaffirmed his grip on the flight controls, tilting his head up to stare at Ratchet behind him.  
"Let's go home."

The Lombax nodded to himself, leaning a little further back in his seat. Home sounded great.


End file.
